Ocean physics and ecology: can robots disentangle the mix?

Marine phytoplankton are key players in the global carbon cycle, responsible
for half of Earth's primary production. This project will use underwater robots
to evaluate small-scale physical processes in the upper ocean, its effects on
phytoplankton growth and assess the importance of including these processes
in oceanic carbon models. The project will initially use an existing 4-month
glider deployment dataset to evaluate the upper ocean drivers of primary
production, focusing on small scale forcing resulting from changes in water
column structure and relating these to glider chlorophyll-based estimates of
phytoplankton growth. Filling this knowledge gap using these high-resolution
data will improve predictions of how the carbon uptake by phytoplankton is
affected by both natural variability and changes in physical forcing driven by
climate change.