Cleaner seas

Our challenge here is to understand how human activities affect the marine environment and the consequences for society so that society can make rational choices about the activities we do that affect the ocean, and to develop new technologies and practical solutions to mitigate and manage pollution.

The requirements for PML-led action are as diverse as the problem being addressed. Our stakeholder groups include international and local legislators who utilise our observations, model outputs and the expertise of our staff to interpret and advise on the complexity of marine systems under pressure. PML contributes to the activities of governmental and intergovernmental organisations who advise on the control of allochthonous inputs, conservation, management and sustainability goals. Non-governmental organisations, local authorities and tourism boards all utilise PML outputs to inform on the quality and function of water bodies used for recreation, aquaculture and other commercial activities which include the shipping industry, armed forces and port authorities. The “blue space” is a relatively recent concept which advocates that closeness to the marine environment is beneficial to health and wellbeing and therefore engenders a link between PML and public health organisations and practitioners.

Exemplar activities which highlight how cross-disciplinary teams from PML unite to address environmental concerns include:

• Assessments of carbon sequestration and blue carbon at the scale of the north-east Atlantic Ocean.
• Highlighting the importance of ocean and coastal processes on the atmospheric flux of greenhouse gases.
• Providing climate change projections to advise the MMO in their publication of the South-West Marine Plan.

Our ongoing activities include:

• Investigating the transport of land-derived carbon and nutrients between catchment and coast. Engagement with local stakeholders informs activities ranging from peatland restoration, flood defence, re-naturalisation of farmland and agricultural activities to retain soil carbon and reduce nutrient loss;
• Development and production of observation systems, models and risk maps for cholera in the northern Indian Ocean which will support evidence-based policy decisions and actions to inform local communities, governments, health services, intergovernmental agencies and policy makers;
• Providing techniques for the identification of pollution (oil, litter, nutrients) from satellite data which when integrated with models, produce forecast and hindcast predictions of the source and direction of pollution.
• The integration of sustained, multiplatform observing networks and marine ecosystem models to improve operational short-term and seasonal predictions of ecosystem stressors (e.g. anoxia, ocean acidification and harmful algal blooms).

• PML Projects
• Other Projects
• Selected Publications