In this edition:
OceanICU is a five-year project that seeks to gain a new understanding of the biological carbon pump and its processes to provide fundamental knowledge and tools to help policy makers, regulators and Ocean industry—fishing and mining, along with the wider blue economy—manage and understand the impact of their actions on Ocean carbon. This will ultimately lead to a better approach for addressing climate change in alignment with the EU Green Deal to reduce the net emissions of greenhouse gases to Zero by 2050.
A Note from our Coordinator Richard Sanders
Hi Everyone,
This upcoming summer marks the halfway point of OceanICU, so much done, so much still to do! I thought I’d start this newsletter with a brief view of what the coordination team is up to. Our major effort so far this year, aside from organising the annual meeting, has been working through the impact plan. When we developed the OceanICU proposal, we produced over 20 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), which we use to assess our progress towards delivering the outcomes and impacts we plan to achieve. Now with the completion of many work plan tasks, we have decided to cluster these KPIs into targeted groups, and have created cross work package task forces for each cluster where our researchers can bring their domain knowledge and expertise to combine small and big task results into impactful actions that change the field.
Another noteworthy thing happening in the project is that several of our colleagues are at sea collecting data. There is a focus of effort in the project around understanding how different parts of the biological carbon pump work, and seagoing is fundamental to that investigation. It’s exciting to hear about the adventures people are having and then to see the data coming through; we look forward to insightful presentations and papers in the future from this work. Recently, there have been some new papers published in high impact journals (highlighted in this newsletter). Impact of course is not just papers; actions that lead to real changes are just as important and a good example recently is the GLODAP workshop convened in Brussels which will lead to new datasets that both OceanICU and the broader oceanographic community will be able to access. (Read about it below.)
Finally, I started by talking about the project being about 50% over – to mark that we are hosting the annual meeting this year in person in IOPAN in Sopot, Poland May 19-22. It’s a crucial point where the project will pivot towards really talking about impact and finalising some of its messages. We look forward to providing updates of this event through our communication channels, and invite you to see how it progresses in real-time by following us on LinkedIn and BlueSky.
Richard Sanders
NORCE
Bergen, Norway
We are pleased to highlight two important papers that were recently published in Nature.
Global distribution, quantification and valuation of the biological carbon pump
There is a hidden Climate Hero in our Ocean! It’s the Biological Carbon Pump and it plays a trillion-dollar role.
A new paper published in Nature Climate by OceanICU’s Fabio Berzaghi (first author) and Mary S. Wisz (WMU), among other researchers, discusses the economic value of the BCP important ecosystem service and uses spatial analysis and financial valuation to estimate that every year the biological carbon pump adds 2.81 GtC to the ocean with a storage time of at least 50 years, valuing this ecosystem service in the trillions of dollars by 2030.
These findings can support discussions in climate finance and in the COP global stock take for climate action. OceanICU is pleased to have provided some of the funding for this research and congratulates Fabio, Mary S. Wisz and all the authors. Find the paper here
Global distribution, quantification and valuation of the biological carbon pump
Historical and future projections of global climate and carbon cycle states can be seen in the graphs on the right from a new paper published in Nature Communications, discussing work funded by the OceanICU project that reveals how the ocean biological carbon pump plays a vital role in maintaining low atmospheric CO₂ levels and facilitating efficient future anthropogenic carbon sinks.
Without it, climate change would occur at an amplified and accelerated rate.
Congratulations to our consortium members: Jerry Tjiputra, Richard Sanders and Damien Couespel for the publication of this important work. Find it here
Ocean Acidification and Carbon Cycle Feedbacks
This past February, OceanICU colleagues presented the latest webinar in our series.
As we continue to emit large amounts of CO₂ into the atmosphere, the portion that is absorbed into the ocean through natural processes shifts the pH down to more acidic levels – this is what we term ‘Ocean Acidification’
Despite decades of research on the topic, we are still discovering new ways in which Ocean Acidification impacts key marine biota – this webinar will explore Ocean Acidification impacts on biological aspects of the marine carbon cycle; the Biological Carbon Pump and Cold-water corals in the deep sea.
If you missed the live event and/or would like a refresher, our digital swag bag features a video recording of the webinar, a pdf of the presentations and a list of the questions and answers discussed during the live event. Digital Swag Bag
Putting the Pieces Together
Understanding the Effects of Ocean Acidification on Pelagic Calcifiers
Ocean acidification affects all parts of the ocean, from the shallow coastal ocean to the deep sea. Specifically impactful are its effects on shell-forming organisms. Pelagic, or open ocean calcifiers are a major group that are anticipated to be impacted by climate change. Similar to corals, pelagic calcifiers make their shells from calcium carbonate (CaCO3).
Shells made of CaCO3 are susceptible and will experience some form of dissolution either at the surface or over time as they sink into the deep ocean. Read it here
The Deep Ocean: The True Carbon Sink
OceanICU’s Siv Lauset (NORCE) led a special event in Brussels earlier this year to discuss the urgent demand to better understand the dynamics of carbon flux and to increase the capacity of ocean observation, particularly in the deep sea—the true ocean carbon sink, for an audience of stakeholders from international and intergovernmental organisations, initiatives and projects.
During a panel discussion, moderated by Nathalie Van Isacker (SSBE), key issues relating to OceanICU aims were highlighted, including the crucial steps in quantifying the ocean carbon sink, connecting the surface to the deep with respect to future estimates to ensure there is no disconnection, and encouraging recruitment and development of talent through long-term contracts, knowledge transfer and training to ensure the delivery of quality data in the future.
The event was the culmination of the Global Ocean Data Analysis Project (GLODAP) workshop to deliver GLODAPv3 2025. The project is a synthesis activity for ocean surface to bottom biogeochemical data collected through chemical analysis of water samples. Visit their website for more info and check out the paper: A vision for FAIR ocean data products published in Nature.
International Women’s Day Video
Now more than ever, it is important that the voices of both women and evidence-based science are heard on the international stage! In celebration of International Women’s Day, OceanICU put a spotlight on the faces of our dedicated consortium members who are working towards our project’s aims of better understanding the biological carbon pump for science, policy and society. Watch the video
Richard Sanders Appointed to the WMO(G3W) Task Force
OceanICU coordinator Richard Sanders has been selected to be part of the WMO Global Greenhouse Gas Watch (G3W) task force, in his role as Director of ICOS Ocean Thematic Centre. The task force will focus on implementing the G3W system, which has been designed to track greenhouse gases across the globe, particularly CO₂. Read more
A Sister Project for OceanICU
TRICUSO is a new four-year Horizon Europe project that shares many partners with OceanICU and is also helmed by our coordinator Richard Sanders. The project seeks to innovate the Southern Ocean Observation value chain from observations to data products and system governance in support of the WMO Global Greenhouse Gas Watch (G3W).
The project will achieve this by developing new sensor technologies, integrating new platforms and data analysis strategies.
All of this will strengthen the capabilities of three major RIs (ICOS, EMBRC, Euro-Argo ERIC) and ultimately reduce the current uncertainty of the Southern Ocean Carbon Sink leading to better estimates of how climate change will progress in the future. Follow TRICUSO
Marine observing needs at the ocean-climate interface
On 5 March 2025, Natalya Gallo (NORCE) delivered a lecture at the University of the South Pacific, where she highlighted aspects of OceanICU’s work. Her presentation covered ecological indicators of oxygen loss, the deep-sea impacts of mCDR, and the potential contributions of remote sensing to blue carbon observing.
BT Young Scientists
From 10 – 11 January 2025, Fiona Culhane (Marine Institute) attended the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, an Irish annual school students’ science competition. Fiona represented OceanICU at an information stand sharing insights into the project’s goals and research.
OceanICU Annual Meeting
Sopot, Poland: 19-23 May 2025
Our partner IO PAN will host the consortium for the Third Annual Meeting and General Assembly where partners will physically meet for the first time since the project Kick-off in February 2023.
FABM Workshop
Eupen, Belgium: 16-20th June 2025
Jorn Bruggeman (Bolding & Bruggeman) is organising this hands-on event for FABM users and developers. The workshop will cover numerous recent developments in and around FABM, including new tools and models being developed within the European projects OceanICU and NECCTON. More information here.
The Royal Society Meeting – OceanICU Session
London, UK: 1-2 December 2025
The Royal Society hosts a programme of scientific meetings throughout each year organised by leaders in a particular area of science, using their expertise to ensure the key topics are covered. OceanICU will be organising a session. The audience comprises a variety of interested stakeholders and fellow scientists at various stages of their career, so we are expecting invigorating discussions, and maybe the answer to the session’s title: Will biodiversity loss impact the ocean’s role in regulating climate and delivering sustainable marine resources? Stay tuned for more details throughout the year.
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