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The breathing ocean

23 March 2010

The completion of a major research programme is celebrated today with the finale of the UK Surface Ocean - Lower Atmosphere Study (UK SOLAS).

"The ocean is a major player in the climate system," says Dr Phil Williamson, the UK SOLAS Science Coordinator. "It not only stores 1000 times more heat than the atmosphere but also strongly affects greenhouse gas concentrations and cloud formation.

"Whilst future human-driven global change is near certain, there have been many crucial gaps in our knowledge of the climatic connections between sea and sky. This programme has now filled some of the gaps."

Achievements from the £11·5m programme, which has been supported by the Natural Environment Research Council, are being presented today at the finale event, held at the Met Office in Exeter.

Some of the areas which have benefited from the research programme are:

• Quantifying the physical factors - wind and sea-surface state - affecting the ocean's uptake and release of carbon dioxide.
• Understanding the ocean processes that add or remove reactive trace gases to the air. Such gases may affect climate directly or indirectly - for example, by destroying methane.
• Determining the importance of dimethyl sulphide (DMS) - a gas produced by marine plankton - in cloud formation and climate regulation on a global scale.
• Understanding the significance of iron from desert dust as an ocean fertiliser.

The UK SOLAS programme involved 23 research grants, eight research cruises and two aircraft campaigns. Much of the fieldwork was carried out off North West Africa, in the Cape Verdi region, closely linked to other countries' research which was coordinated by the international SOLAS project.

Further information

NERC Press Office
Natural Environment Research Council
Polaris House, North Star Avenue
Swindon, SN2 1EU
Tel: 01793 411561
Mob: 07917 557215

Dr Phil Williamson
UK SOLAS Science Coordinator

Press release: 10/10