Investigations of the Carbon Budget off Namibia

Gas exchange rates between the atmosphere and the ocean are closely dependent on the regional setting. In many regions the oceans can take up carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere (the ocean acts as a “carbon sink”) whereas particularly upwelling areas appear to release CO2 to the atmosphere (the ocean here acts as a “carbon source”). In the Benguela Upwelling System, however, both CO2 emissions and uptake occur and seem to be a result of different physical and biogeochemical water mass properties.

Scientists from the Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Ecology in Bremen are investigating why and where the Benguela System acts as a source or sink for atmospheric CO2 and what are the consequences for climate change scenarios.

GenusPodcast in english

Universität Hamburg
  • 57912 Hits
  • |
  • 1432 Votes
  • |
  • 19 Beiträge

GENUS (Geochemistry and Ecology of the Namibian Upwelling System) aims to clarify relationships between climate change, biogeochemical cycles, and ecosystem structure in the large marine ecosystem of the northern Benguela/Namibian Coast (sout-west Africa). The coastal upwelling system has high seasonal and interannual variability in atmospheric forcing, in properties of water masses on the shelf offshore the Republic of Namibia, and in oxygen supply and demand on the shelf. In consequence, concentrations and ratios of nutrients in upwelling water and their CO2-content have steep gradients in space and time. In the past, significant and economically severe changes in ecosystem structure have occurred which are in part attributed to changes in physical forcing, translated to the ecosystem by oxygen dynamics.

The GENUS project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and is an endorsed project of the Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research (IMBER)

Zu GenusPodcast in english

Weitere Beiträge des Kanals

How does the Benguela Upwelling System work?

How does the Benguela Upwelling System work?

GenusPodcast in english
Universität Hamburg

1026 Hits | 2 Votes

06.01.2017 10:42 | Länge 00:12:23

Medium bildschirmfoto 2017 01 05 um 14.25.29
Capacity Building - ISATEC-Student Lindan Mlambo

Capacity Building - ISATEC-Student Lindan Mlambo

GenusPodcast in english
Universität Hamburg

533 Hits | 5 Votes

26.11.2014 11:53 | Länge 00:03:17

Still medium capacity building
Marine life in oxygen minimum zones

Marine life in oxygen minimum zones

GenusPodcast in english
Universität Hamburg

813 Hits | 2 Votes

17.11.2014 14:50 | Länge 00:06:40

Still medium marine life in oxygen minimum zones
Biogeochemistry and sedimentology in the Benguela upwelling system

Biogeochemistry and sedimentology in the Benguela upwelling system

GenusPodcast in english
Universität Hamburg

532 Hits | 2 Votes

10.11.2014 14:00 | Länge 00:07:15

Still medium biogeochemistry and sedimentology in the benguela upwelling system
Research into material cycles off the coast of Namibia

Research into material cycles off the coast of Namibia

GenusPodcast in english
Universität Hamburg

665 Hits | 5 Votes

31.10.2014 14:38 | Länge 00:05:02

Still medium research into material cycles off the coast of namibia
Phytoplankton analysis off the coast of Namibia

Phytoplankton analysis off the coast of Namibia

GenusPodcast in english
Universität Hamburg

954 Hits | 7 Votes

24.10.2014 10:25 | Länge 00:04:59

Still medium phytoplankton analysis off the coast of namibia

Ähnliche Beiträge