Keeping up with ocean change: Using robots to push the envelope in ocean carbon observing

Project Overview

Ocean robots (sensors and vehicles) can offer the spatial and temporal coverage required to observe ocean acidification and the rapidly changing carbon cycle. Using the latest in autonomous technologies, this project will develop, demonstrate and prove the impact of high-resolution carbon observations through a series of trials around the globe.

Project Description

The ocean carbon cycle is changing at an unprecedented rate with acidification threatening ocean ecosystems and blue economies. Understanding spatial and temporal variability in carbonate chemistry is essential to identify ocean acidification hotspots and better understand and predict impacts on marine life. Autonomous technology has the potential for large-scale high-resolution real-time observing1,2 (see for example the Argo programme www.argo.net) and could accelerate our understanding of how the ocean carbon cycle is changing. The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) is a world leader in ocean observing technology development (sensors, samplers and vehicles; https://noc.ac.uk/technology) and its use for generating new knowledge. Working with engineers and scientists from the Ocean Technology and Engineering group, the successful PhD candidate will lead the optimization of novel autonomous sensor and sampler technologies (e.g https://noc.ac.uk/technology/technology-development/instruments-sensors through laboratory tests and field trials, integrated on autonomous platforms such as the Autosub Long Range and gliders (e.g. SEAEXPLORER https://www.alseamar-alcen.com/products/underwater-glider/seaexplorer). The successful candidate will demonstrate these technologies and develop new autonomous observing strategies during planned and funded sea trials to the North and mid-latitude Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. The candidate will collaborate with the wider European ocean carbon observing community and observing technology developers through project GEORGE (https://george-project.eu/) and will join new deployment opportunities (e.g. Liguria Sea, Porcupine Abyssal Plane) as they become available, collecting data which will improve our understanding of ocean acidification and carbon dynamics. The potential of these new technologies for citizen science and capacity building applications in developing countries will also be addressed.  

Training

The INSPIRE DTP programme provides comprehensive personal and professional development training alongside extensive opportunities for students to expand their multi-disciplinary outlook through interactions with a wide network of academic, research and industrial/policy partners. The student will be registered at the University of Southampton and hosted at the National Oceanography Centre. Specific training will include: the science and metrology of carbon dioxide and the dissolved carbonate system, autonomous systems and their application to carbon observing, instrumentation development, analytical chemistry and sensor engineering. The student will benefit from training events planned through project GEORGE including workshops on autonomy, data processing and QA/QC and carbon observing best practices.

A suitable first degree would be in any Earth or Environmental Science discipline, chemistry, oceanography or marine science