PML scientists to showcase cutting-edge research at Ocean Sciences Meeting 

Scientists from Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) will be contributing to global discussions on climate, carbon and the future of ocean monitoring at next week’s Ocean Sciences Meeting (22nd – 27th February) held in Glasgow – a unique biennial gathering which sees around 6,000 scientists and ocean experts from across the globe come together to share the latest research findings, collaborate on solutions, and make lasting partnerships with the goal of advancing scientific knowledge and impacts.

Key areas of research being showcased by PML scientists:

How marine carbon dioxide removal can be scaled responsibly  

Marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) will be a major focus for PML at the meeting. As interest grows in the ocean’s potential role in climate mitigation, PML scientists are contributing to research that ensures proposed approaches are scientifically robust and environmentally responsible – without causing unintended impacts. 

Presentations and poster sessions will explore environmental impact assessments, monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) frameworks, ocean alkalinity enhancement, and direct ocean carbon capture – and its impacts on fisheries and other marine organisms. Researchers will also address the social and governance dimensions of mCDR, including engagement with fisheries and coastal communities. Discover our mCDR sessions below ↓ 

Harnessing AI and next-generation ocean observation 

Advances in artificial intelligence and autonomous technologies are transforming how scientists observe marine ecosystems. At OSM, PML researchers will showcase developments in automated image analysis, decentralised machine learning and digital ocean modelling. 

This includes work under the DEAL (DEcentrAlised Learning for automated image analysis and biodiversity monitoring) project, which aims to improve classification of vast biological image datasets while preserving data privacy. Other presentations explore AI-assisted plankton analysis, deep-sea imaging and hybrid machine learning–ecosystem modelling approaches. Discover our AI and next-gen ocean observation sessions below ↓ 

The carbon cycle – and the ocean’s role in regulating climate 

“The ocean generates 50 percent of the oxygen we need, absorbs 30 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions and captures 90 percent of the excess heat generated by these emissions. It is not just ‘the lungs of the planet’ but also its largest ‘carbon sink’ – a vital buffer against the impacts of climate change.” [United Nations] 

PML scientists will share new insights into how carbon moves through the ocean system – from air–sea gas exchange at the surface to biological processes in the deep ocean. 

Research being presented spans the Southern Ocean, shelf seas and the North Atlantic, highlighting how changing temperatures, circulation and ecosystem dynamics influence the ocean carbon sink. Other studies examine carbon export, microbial processes and long-term projections under future climate scenarios. 

Together, this work strengthens understanding of how the ocean regulates climate, how that capacity may shift in a warming world – and what that ultimately means for us all. Discover our carbon sessions below ↓ 

Offshore renewable energy in the transition to net zero 

As offshore renewable energy expands in the race to reduce emissions, understanding ecosystem impacts and managing trade-offs is increasingly important. PML scientists will contribute to discussions on offshore wind development, ecosystem-level effects and cumulative impact assessment frameworks. 

This research supports marine spatial planning and evidence-based policy, helping to balance climate mitigation ambitions with healthy, resilient marine ecosystems. Discover our renewables sessions below ↓ 

Understanding and tracking ecosystem change in a warming ocean 

From marine heatwaves and harmful algal blooms to shifts in phytoplankton productivity and biodiversity, PML researchers are examining how climate change is reshaping marine ecosystems. 

By integrating long-term observations, experimental studies and modelling, this work provides critical evidence to inform conservation, management and adaptation strategies. Discover our sessions below ↓ 

Thematic sessions: PML at OSM 

Related mCDR and OAE sessions: 

• Perspectives and insights from the SeaCURE pilot plant on Direct Ocean Carbon Capture at scale  

• Lessons learnt from the development and implementation of a comprehensive framework for Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification of a Marine Carbon Dioxide removal pilot plant in the UK 

• Fine Scale Modelling and a Decision Support Tool to support Measurement, Reporting and Verification 

• Perspectives on marine carbon dioxide removal from the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network 

• SESSION: An Environmental Impact Assessment Framework for Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal 

• The impacts of Direct Ocean Carbon Capture and Storage (DOCCS) discharge on marine organisms 

• Developing a Community-Driven Environmental Impact Monitoring Framework for Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) Field Research 

• Modelling Atmospheric Carbon Drawdown Due to a Direct Ocean Carbon Capture Pilot Plant in UK Coastal Waters 

• Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal (mCDR) Interactions with Fish, Fisheries, and Aquaculture I Poster 

• The value of marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) engagement with fisheries, aquaculture and Indigenous communities 

Related AI and next-gen ocean observation sessions: 

• Autonomous observations of enhanced chlorophyll concentrations during a marine heatwave in a seasonally stratified shelf sea 

• AI Model Transferability in Marine Benthic Imagery: From Training Site to New Ecosystems 

• Breaking Barriers in Automated Image Analysis: A Case Study of Deep-Sea Biotopes 

• SESSION: Plankton and Particle Imaging: Moving Beyond Classification Toward Ecosystem Understanding 

• Advancing Marine Biodiversity Monitoring: In-situ Imaging Across the Size Spectrum and Decentralised Learning for Automated Classification 

• The development of Single-Turnover Active Fluorometry (STAF) for autonomous assessment of phytoplankton photosynthetic activity and primary production at high spatial and temporal resolution 

Related offshore renewables sessions: 

• Physics-to-Ecosystem Level Assessment of Impacts of Offshore Wind Farms in Stratified Waters: The Overview of Outcomes from the PELAgIO Project. 

• Ecological, social and economic conflicts between the offshore wind energy and commercial fishing industries: Perspectives on challenges and solutions from the UK and globally. 

• A Framework for Quantifiable Evidence and Impact of Ecosystem Change from Offshore Wind Farms 

• An ecosystem-level dynamic approach for a more strategic and integrated evaluation of trade-offs for future sustainable management of our shallow seas 

• A Bayesian Framework for Assessing Fine-scale Seabird Habitat Use for a Holistic Ecosystem-based Cumulative Effect Assessment 

Related carbon and climate sessions: 

• SESSION: The Southern Ocean Carbon Sink: Processes, Observations, and Change   

• Size Spectra of Weddell Sea Ecosystems Reflect Regional Differences in Productivity, Nutrient Cycling, Trophic Interactions and Carbon Export 

• A satellite-based estimates of biological pools and fluxes of carbon in the oceanic mixed layer 

• Dissolved Organic Matter dynamics along the European coasts, new insights from the TRaversing European Coastlines (TREC) expedition 

• SESSION: The Southern Ocean Carbon Sink: Processes, Observations, and Change 

• Trends in satellite-based observations of the ocean carbon cycle 

• Controls on carbon dioxide air-sea exchange and seawater fugacity in partially icecovered waters of the Weddell Sea, Antarctica 

• Assessing the Importance of Asymmetries and Biases in the Air-Sea Flux of Carbon Dioxide 

• Integrating Satellite-Observed Surface Carbon into Ocean Biogeochemical Model to Improve Ocean Carbon Cycle 

• Relating air-water CO2 gas transfer efficiency to proxies of biological activity 

• Modelling the role of macrobenthic community structure in carbon processing in sediments and benthic-pelagic exchange 

• Quantifying the carbon flux due to diel vertical migration on the Northwest European shelf 

• Carbon from Earth Observation between Ocean and Land (COOL) 

• Improving Particulate Organic Carbon and Nitrogen (POCN) Resolution Using Beam Attenuation: Exploring C:N Ratios and Biological Controls at the Bermuda Atlantic Time Series Study (BATS) Site in the Western North Atlantic Ocean 

• Coupling Biological and Microbial Carbon Pumps in the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre 

• Microbial secrets of the Weddell Sea: Respiration and prokaryote growth efficiencies 

• Quantifying Marine Biological Production Across Scales and Platforms I Oral 

• Size Spectra of Weddell Sea Ecosystems Reflect Regional Differences in Productivity, Nutrient Cycling, Trophic Interactions and Carbon Export 

• Quantifying Marine Biological Production Across Scales and Platforms I Oral 

• Improving imaging-based particulate organic carbon measurements by taking visually-identifiable characteristics into account 

• Improving Predictions of Coastal Marine Ecosystem Forecasts Through a Digital Twin Ocean Approach 

• A Unified data-driven approach to quantify Biological Production and Export in the Global Surface Ocean 

• Quantifying Uncertainty in Photosynthesis-Irradiance Parameters for Marine Primary Production 

• The temperature dependence of phytoplankton photosynthesis across oceanic domains 

Related ecosystem understanding and ecosystem change sessions: 

• Observed changes in phytoplankton species diversity, geographical distribution and abundance associated with Harmful Algal Bloom Events in the North Atlantic Region for the last 25 years 

• Improving Predictions of Coastal Marine Ecosystem Forecasts Through a Digital Twin Ocean Approach 

• Autonomous observations of enhanced chlorophyll concentrations during a marine heatwave in a seasonally stratified shelf sea 

• Size Spectra of Weddell Sea Ecosystems Reflect Regional Differences in Productivity, Nutrient Cycling, Trophic Interactions and Carbon Export 

• Environmental and Climatic Drivers of Glycymeris glycymeris Shell Growth Variability in the English Channel 

• Coastal nutrients and biological productivity reflect the balance between land management and climate change impacts 

• eDNA Complements Traditional Methods to Identify Winners and Losers Under Climatic Warming in the Western English Channel 

• FAIR marine ecology time series data for the global research community – Outcomes of the Marine Ecological Time Series Research Coordination Network (METS-RCN) 

• Novel Observations of OVOC Production from the Ozonolysis of Seawater during the CARES campaign 

• Towards Next-Generation Biogeochemical Forecasting: A Hybrid Machine Learning-ERSEM Model 

• Advancing Modelling of Marine Pollution and Stressors to Predict and Mitigate Ocean Threats in European and Global Seas 

• Challenging one-way coupled biogeochemical to fisheries modelling: new insights from a two-way coupled model representing photons to fisheries on the North-West European Shelf 

• Seawater Turbidity Across the Northwest European Shelf (NWES): Drivers, Trends, and Ecosystem Responses 

• Assessing the impacts of climate change on seasonal phytoplankton variability on the Northwest European shelf 

• Advancing Marine Biodiversity Monitoring: In-situ Imaging Across the Size Spectrum and Decentralised Learning for Automated Classification 

• Towards an International Seamount Science Program 

• Ocean Acidification and the United Kingdom: monitoring 

• Transports of Water Masses and Biogeochemical Properties at the Continental Slope of the Western Weddell Sea 

• Biological sources of ozone reactive organic matter in the sea-surface microlayer 

• Stationary phase metabolites of cosmopolitan phytoplankton promote pathogenic Vibrio attachment – a zoom into chemically mediated host-microbe interactions 

• Biological sources of ozone reactive organic matter in the sea-surface microlayer 

• Response of Phytoplankton Communities to Climate Change Detected From Space in The Benguela Upwelling Region 

• Evaluation of hyperspectral backscattering retrievals from the PACE-OCI sensor using field measurements from coastal to open ocean waters 

• The Hyperspectral Bio-Optical Observations Sailing on Tara (HyperBOOST) dataset: relevance for the development and validation of coastal and oceanic satellite products in European waters 

• Novel High-Frequency Seawater Measurements of DMSP, DMS and Methanethiol During the NE Atlantic Spring Bloom 

• Air-sea concentration and flux observations of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in the Northeast Atlantic 

• A new bias-corrected regional projection for the North Western European shelf to assess future threats to cold water corals and build plans for climate-smart ecological restoration 

• Downscaling climate projections of shelf – open ocean exchange in the Atlantic Ocean 

• Physical processes mediating the impacts of climate change on the biogeochemistry of the global coastal ocean 

• Indicators of Changing Lightscapes in Underwater Marine Ecosystems (ISOLUME) 

• Sargassum and the Surface Microlayer: Episodic Controls on Air-Sea Gas Transfer 

• The temperature dependence of phytoplankton photosynthesis across oceanic domains 

• Community guidance for new users in building regional ocean NEMO configurations 

• Impact of Wave-induced Mixing on Storm-driven Biogeochemical Fluxes in the Northwest European Shelf 

• How Warm is Too Warm? Collapse and Recovery of the North Atlantic Sub-Polar Gyre and Phytoplankton Bloom Over a Range of Net-Zero Futures 

• The temperature dependence of phytoplankton photosynthesis across oceanic domains 

• Decline in satellite-derived primary production in the eastern North Atlantic driven by changes in sea surface temperature and mixed layer depth. 

• A generic modeling framework for diel vertical migration of mesozooplankton and its role in marine biogeochemical cycles 

• Advancing Capacity Development in the Ocean Biomolecular Observing Network (OBON)