The Air-Sea Exchange group focuses on the processes that control gas and particle exchange between the ocean and atmosphere, which has profound implications for our environment and the Earth’s climate. There are many complex processes involved in air-sea gas exchange and understanding them is critical to future climate change scenarios.
Air-sea exchange is important for the cycling of gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, dimethylsulfide and ammonia. These compounds are important for our climate because they are either greenhouse gases or influence the production and growth of particles in the atmosphere that reflect solar radiation away from the Earth’s surface.
We also study the air-sea exchange processes relevant to ozone, particles and volatile organic compounds, all of which are relevant to our understanding of how the ocean influences atmospheric processing and air pollution.
The ASE group works on many of the challenges highlighted in the Surface Ocean-Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS) project overview schematic.
Our big research questions are:
- What are the processes at the ocean/atmosphere interface that control the air-sea transfer of heat, gases and particles?
- What are the key biological and chemical processes in the surface ocean that control the concentrations of climate- and pollution-relevant trace gases?
- What are the important controls on trace gas biogeochemistry and atmosphere-ocean transfer in estuarine and coastal waters?
- How are the atmospheric emissions from ships and the regulation of these emissions influencing the marine environment?
Our work helps to improve understanding of the role that the oceans play in the Earth system. Our data is used within models to understand how the air-sea fluxes of gases might change in response to various future scenarios including changes in marine biota, ocean acidification, warming and other stressors.
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SCIPPER: Shipping Contributions to Inland Pollution Push for the Enforcement of RegulationsThe SCIPPER project deploys state-of-the-art and next-generation measurement techniques to monitor emissions of vessels under normal operation.
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Detection and Attribution of Regional greenhouse gas Emissions in the UKDARE-UK is developing systems to estimate greenhouse gas emissions to improve the accuracy of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions inventory…
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Atlantic Meridional Transect Ocean Flux from Satellite Campaign (AMT4OceanSatFlux)The AMT4OceanSatFlux project will measure the flux of carbon dioxide (CO2) between the atmosphere and the ocean utilising a state-of-the-art…
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Atmospheric Composition and Radiative forcing changes due to UN International Ship Emissions regulations (ACRUISE)Ship emissions are significant sources of polluting aerosols in coastal regions, causing hundreds of thousands of premature deaths per year…
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Pathways and emissions of climate-relevant trace gases in a changing Arctic Ocean (PETRA)The Arctic Ocean is a rapidly changing environment, with rising temperatures leading to an ongoing decline in sea ice and…
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Is bacterial DMS consumption dependent on methylamines in marine waters?Dimethylsulfide (DMS) is a key ingredient in the cocktail of gases that makes up the ‘smell of the sea’. Around…
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A multidisciplinary study of DMSP production and lysis – from enzymes to organisms to process modellingA billion tonnes of the dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) is made each year by marine phytoplankton, seaweeds, corals, coastal plants and marine…
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Land ocean carbon transfer (LOCATE)Our climate, and hence our lifestyle and economy, is profoundly influenced by the concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere,…
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North Atlantic climate system integrated study (ACSIS)Major changes are occurring across the North Atlantic climate system: in ocean and atmosphere temperatures and circulation, in sea ice…
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Processes Influencing Carbon Cycling: Observations of the Lower limb of the Antarctic Overturning (PICCOLO)The vast, remote seas which surround the continent of Antarctica are collectively known as the Southern Ocean. This region with…
We established the Penlee Point Atmospheric Observatory (PPAO), part of the Western Channel Observatory (WCO), which forms an ideal platform for us to study the interactions between the ocean and the atmosphere. This has recently been endorsed by the international Surface Ocean-Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS).
We are currently developing our research to take advantage of a fleet of autonomous platforms recently acquired by PML, which form part of Smart Sound Plymouth.
We apply a range of techniques in our research, often using, custom-designed and built equipment and novel techniques. For example, we have measured:
- Biologically-mediated processes using stable isotope trace additions.
- Chemical transformations (e.g. photochemical rates) using bespoke incubation chambers.
- Direct air-sea fluxes of many different trace gases using the eddy covariance technique.
