Carbon Uptake and Seasonal Traits in Antarctic Remineralisation Depth (CUSTARD)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Plymouth
Department Name: Sch of Geog Earth & Environ Sciences
Abstract
The surface ocean is home to billions of microscopic plants called phytoplankton which produce organic matter in the surface ocean using sunlight and carbon dioxide. When they die many of them sink, taking this carbon into the deep ocean, where it may be stored for hundreds to thousands of years, which helps keep our climate the way it is today.
In general terms the size of the effect they have on our climate is linked to how deep they sink before they dissolve - the deeper they sink, the more carbon is stored. This effect is particularly important in the northern part of the Southern Ocean where the pattern of ocean currents means that the difference between shallow and deep dissolution controls whether this carbon is locked away from the surface ocean for just a few years or for centuries. This is because the area is a junction in the ocean circulation. Stacked up on each other from the surface to the seafloor at almost 5km depth are four oceanic 'motorways', taking water to different parts of the global ocean. The motorway that the carbon is dissolved into determines how long it will be kept away from the atmosphere.
For this reason, if we want to understand the role of this northern part of the Southern Ocean in regulating global climate we need to understand both how big carbon uptake is at the ocean surface and also how deep sinking material dissolves. Unfortunately we don't understand either well; data are scarce in the Southern Ocean as the weather is poor and few commercial vessels pass through there. Consequently, our theories about the pattern of the fate of sinking carbon and what controls this are untested. As a result the models that we use for predicting future climate have massive uncertainty in this region. However, the evidence that we have suggests that changes in the depth of carbon dissolution are key to understanding how the system works.
In this project we will tackle this by making new observations in a remote region of the Southern Ocean using an exciting combination of robotic vehicles and sophisticated new sensors. We will make new observations of how much carbon the ocean takes up in this key motorway junction of the Southern Ocean. We will examine the processes that control the uptake of carbon and its fate, in particular how seasonal availability of nutrients can affect the make-up of the phytoplankton which changes the depth to which carbon sinks before being dissolved.
We will combine these observations with a novel modelling approach that allows us to run the ocean part of our climate model much faster than normally. This allows us to explore the consequences of the seasonal interplay between nutrients and phytoplankton found in our data. In particular, the model allows us to 'tag' carbon so that we can trace where it goes. In this way we can measure the amount of sinking carbon ending up on each motorway and how this varies through the year.
Together with observations of the seasonal changes in nutrients and sinking carbon the model will allow us to determine the key processes regulating carbon uptake in this important area. This will provide important information to those building the UK's climate model at a time when it is being developed to provide input to a future high profile report (from the IPCC) on the state of the world's climate.
In general terms the size of the effect they have on our climate is linked to how deep they sink before they dissolve - the deeper they sink, the more carbon is stored. This effect is particularly important in the northern part of the Southern Ocean where the pattern of ocean currents means that the difference between shallow and deep dissolution controls whether this carbon is locked away from the surface ocean for just a few years or for centuries. This is because the area is a junction in the ocean circulation. Stacked up on each other from the surface to the seafloor at almost 5km depth are four oceanic 'motorways', taking water to different parts of the global ocean. The motorway that the carbon is dissolved into determines how long it will be kept away from the atmosphere.
For this reason, if we want to understand the role of this northern part of the Southern Ocean in regulating global climate we need to understand both how big carbon uptake is at the ocean surface and also how deep sinking material dissolves. Unfortunately we don't understand either well; data are scarce in the Southern Ocean as the weather is poor and few commercial vessels pass through there. Consequently, our theories about the pattern of the fate of sinking carbon and what controls this are untested. As a result the models that we use for predicting future climate have massive uncertainty in this region. However, the evidence that we have suggests that changes in the depth of carbon dissolution are key to understanding how the system works.
In this project we will tackle this by making new observations in a remote region of the Southern Ocean using an exciting combination of robotic vehicles and sophisticated new sensors. We will make new observations of how much carbon the ocean takes up in this key motorway junction of the Southern Ocean. We will examine the processes that control the uptake of carbon and its fate, in particular how seasonal availability of nutrients can affect the make-up of the phytoplankton which changes the depth to which carbon sinks before being dissolved.
We will combine these observations with a novel modelling approach that allows us to run the ocean part of our climate model much faster than normally. This allows us to explore the consequences of the seasonal interplay between nutrients and phytoplankton found in our data. In particular, the model allows us to 'tag' carbon so that we can trace where it goes. In this way we can measure the amount of sinking carbon ending up on each motorway and how this varies through the year.
Together with observations of the seasonal changes in nutrients and sinking carbon the model will allow us to determine the key processes regulating carbon uptake in this important area. This will provide important information to those building the UK's climate model at a time when it is being developed to provide input to a future high profile report (from the IPCC) on the state of the world's climate.
Planned Impact
CUSTARD will engage fully with the other funded RoSES projects and NERC to ensure CUSTARD's impact plan is integrated with wider impact activities. In addition, CUSTARD will achieve impact in the following areas:
Climate prediction:
International agreements to limit the impact of anthropogenic climate change such as COP21 are based upon accurate and precise predictions of how the earth system will respond to potential scenarios of future greenhouse gas release. Our ability to predict future trajectories of atmospheric CO2 and climate is, in turn, strongly dependent on our ability to develop robust and accurate climate models that can quantitatively demonstrate their skill in reproducing the existing CO2 record. CUSTARD will contribute directly to two aspects of this.
First, CUSTARD will collect ocean CO2 flux data year-round in the chronically under-sampled Southern Ocean. Co-I Bakker is a key member of SOCAT (http://www.socat.info), the standard source of flux data globally and widely used for policy briefings (e.g. Pollution in the open oceans: 2009-2013. Boelens, R. et al., GESAMP reports and Studies 91) and climate model testing (e.g. ESMValTool (v1.0) - A tool for evaluation of Earth System Models in CMIP: Eyring, V., et al., 2016. Geoscientific Model Development 9, doi:10.5194/gmd-9-1747-2016).
Second, CUSTARD will provide mechanistic information on the controls on carbon uptake and redistribution in the Southern Ocean. The new insights generated in CUSTARD into the seasonal variability of production and remineralisation, and the implications for ocean carbon storage will be fed through existing links into ongoing development of UKESM2, the next generation UK Earth System model for the UK's contribution to future IPCC assessments.
Autonomous sensing:
Robotics and autonomous systems were identified by the UK government in 2013 as one of 8 great technologies that will help drive economic growth. This was followed by a large (£10 million) capital investment into the MARS national facility. CUSTARD will thus be of interest to the growing community of AUV and sensors manufacturers and users, including agencies with marine monitoring obligations, e.g. Defra and CEFAS. We will hold a community workshop which will focus on best practice for using autonomous vehicles to derive information on carbon fluxes, which we will host at the NOC. Similar previous events have successfully attracted many representatives of AUV manufacturers, however, we will extend the reach to include stakeholders with a remit for ocean monitoring, such as Defra and CEFAS.
Technology:
A novel dissolved silica sensor developed by NOC's Ocean Technology and Engineering group will be deployed during CUSTARD. This is the first autonomous sensor, suitable for the marine environment, capable of measuring in situ silicate, a key component of ocean biogeochemistry. The successful demonstration of this sensor to provide high quality silicate measurements autonomously over an extended period of time will be exploited to generate interest in commercialisation of the sensor.
Science communication:
The CUSTARD team includes co-I Henson, an experienced and effective communicator to general audiences, having participated in multiple public engagement and schools activities, ranging from on-screen contributions to BBC4 TV series 'The Spectrum of Science', to being a panel member at Royal Institution debates, to lectures at the Cheltenham Science Fair, to exhibiting events aimed at school children such as the Big Bang science fair.
Project staff will also be encouraged to undertake public engagement training, such as through the public engagement courses run by NERC or Sense about Science. In addition, a new public engagement activity will be designed as part of CUSTARD and used during the annual Ocean and Earth day held at NOC (attracts > 3000 visitors) and at other events.
Climate prediction:
International agreements to limit the impact of anthropogenic climate change such as COP21 are based upon accurate and precise predictions of how the earth system will respond to potential scenarios of future greenhouse gas release. Our ability to predict future trajectories of atmospheric CO2 and climate is, in turn, strongly dependent on our ability to develop robust and accurate climate models that can quantitatively demonstrate their skill in reproducing the existing CO2 record. CUSTARD will contribute directly to two aspects of this.
First, CUSTARD will collect ocean CO2 flux data year-round in the chronically under-sampled Southern Ocean. Co-I Bakker is a key member of SOCAT (http://www.socat.info), the standard source of flux data globally and widely used for policy briefings (e.g. Pollution in the open oceans: 2009-2013. Boelens, R. et al., GESAMP reports and Studies 91) and climate model testing (e.g. ESMValTool (v1.0) - A tool for evaluation of Earth System Models in CMIP: Eyring, V., et al., 2016. Geoscientific Model Development 9, doi:10.5194/gmd-9-1747-2016).
Second, CUSTARD will provide mechanistic information on the controls on carbon uptake and redistribution in the Southern Ocean. The new insights generated in CUSTARD into the seasonal variability of production and remineralisation, and the implications for ocean carbon storage will be fed through existing links into ongoing development of UKESM2, the next generation UK Earth System model for the UK's contribution to future IPCC assessments.
Autonomous sensing:
Robotics and autonomous systems were identified by the UK government in 2013 as one of 8 great technologies that will help drive economic growth. This was followed by a large (£10 million) capital investment into the MARS national facility. CUSTARD will thus be of interest to the growing community of AUV and sensors manufacturers and users, including agencies with marine monitoring obligations, e.g. Defra and CEFAS. We will hold a community workshop which will focus on best practice for using autonomous vehicles to derive information on carbon fluxes, which we will host at the NOC. Similar previous events have successfully attracted many representatives of AUV manufacturers, however, we will extend the reach to include stakeholders with a remit for ocean monitoring, such as Defra and CEFAS.
Technology:
A novel dissolved silica sensor developed by NOC's Ocean Technology and Engineering group will be deployed during CUSTARD. This is the first autonomous sensor, suitable for the marine environment, capable of measuring in situ silicate, a key component of ocean biogeochemistry. The successful demonstration of this sensor to provide high quality silicate measurements autonomously over an extended period of time will be exploited to generate interest in commercialisation of the sensor.
Science communication:
The CUSTARD team includes co-I Henson, an experienced and effective communicator to general audiences, having participated in multiple public engagement and schools activities, ranging from on-screen contributions to BBC4 TV series 'The Spectrum of Science', to being a panel member at Royal Institution debates, to lectures at the Cheltenham Science Fair, to exhibiting events aimed at school children such as the Big Bang science fair.
Project staff will also be encouraged to undertake public engagement training, such as through the public engagement courses run by NERC or Sense about Science. In addition, a new public engagement activity will be designed as part of CUSTARD and used during the annual Ocean and Earth day held at NOC (attracts > 3000 visitors) and at other events.
Publications

Birchill A
(2024)
Pathways and timescales of Southern Ocean hydrothermal iron and manganese transport
in Communications Earth & Environment





White C
(2021)
Inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus in Western European aerosol and the significance of dry deposition flux into stratified shelf waters
in Atmospheric Environment

Worsfold P
(2019)
Estimating Uncertainties in Oceanographic Trace Element Measurements
in Frontiers in Marine Science

Wyatt NJ
(2023)
Phytoplankton responses to dust addition in the Fe-Mn co-limited eastern Pacific sub-Antarctic differ by source region.
in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Description | Dissolved iron is known to be a limiting micronutrient in many regions of the Southern Ocean, meaning its availability in seawater can restrict the growth of phytoplankton at the base of the Antarctic food chain. The research cruise onboard the RRS Discovery (December 2019-January 2020) allowed a full-depth transect to be completed in the CUSTARD study area of the SE Pacific and Southern Ocean (55-60S). Seawater was sampled and analysed for iron on board the ship and initial results indicate that the surface waters of the region were lacking in iron causing severe iron limitation of the phytoplankton. Due to the remoteness of this region, annual upward transport of iron from deepwaters is vital to sustain the ecosystems and will vary year on year depending on the mixing of these deepwaters to the surface. A highlight discovery from the work was a deep water long-range hydrothermal source of iron from the deep Pacific Ocean into the Southern Ocean found on this expedition. This finding has wide ranging consequences for our understanding of the global carbon cycle and marine ecosystems. |
Exploitation Route | International agreements to limit the impact of anthropogenic climate change such as COP21 are based upon accurate and precise predictions of how the earth system will respond to potential scenarios of future greenhouse gas release. Our ability to predict future trajectories of atmospheric CO2 and climate is, in turn, strongly dependent on our ability to develop robust and accurate climate models that can quantitatively demonstrate their skill in reproducing the existing CO2 record. The iron data from WP3 will contribute directly by: (i) Full data entry into British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) (ii) Entry of data into global biogeochemical models linking iron availability to natural carbon cycling and storage (e.g. ongoing development of UKESM2, the next generation UK Earth System model for the UK's contribution to future IPCC assessments.) (iii) Inform the global community (e.g. Earth System models for UK's contribution to future IPCC assessments) |
Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine Agriculture Food and Drink Chemicals Environment Leisure Activities including Sports Recreation and Tourism Government Democracy and Justice |
URL | http://roses.ac.uk/2020/01/13/trace-metals-on-custard |
Description | A full data set of iron concentrations and size fractions has been prepared for submission to the British Oceanographic Data Centre to be open access. Findings related to CUSTARD project data for this work package/project have now been disseminated and discussed via online and face to face talks/seminars at international (AGU OCean Sciences), national and local meeting and events. A research cruise blog was written during the Southern Ocean expedition and made publicly available including research highlights and layman description of work carried out at sea in the Southern Ocean (January 2020). More data has since been generated (other elemental concentrations for study area and particulate trace metal concentrations) during a no-cost extension period of grant delayed due to the pandemic. |
Sector | Education,Environment |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
Description | Novel sensor networks: from catchment to deep sea |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Impact | Meeting organised by S Ussher at the Univeristy of Plymouth provided a forum leading to ongoing discussions and connections between technology companies, charities, policy makers. |
URL | https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/research-festival/2022-novel-sensors |
Description | TRACE metal SAMplers and sensORS workgroup |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Impact | Workgoup initiated and ongoing discussions, collaborationa and meetings to improve the monitoring of marine environment by development of new sensor technology for marine micronutrients |
URL | https://tracesamors.sciencesconf.org/ |
Description | Assessing the bioavailability of iron in southeast Pacific seawater to phytoplankton using iron uptake rates |
Amount | £8,778 (GBP) |
Funding ID | NE/V009877/1 |
Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2020 |
End | 09/2022 |
Title | dissolved iron south east Pacific, research cruise DY111 |
Description | Analysis of water samples collect as part of the CUSTARD project. Currently (Feb 2021) finishing analysis and quality controlling the dataset. The final dateset will published and shared via the British oceanographic data center. |
Type Of Material | Data handling & control |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | We have identified an unknown impact of hydrothermal activity of the distribution of dissolved iron in the remote south wast pacific ocean. We are working with modellers withing the CUSTARD project at the National Oceanography Center to identify possible sources. |
Description | ARIES PhD Studentship for Isobel Turnbull |
Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Drs Milne and Ussher put forward a studentship proposal which was accepted and funded by NERC'S ARIES Doctoral Training Partnership. This studentship was initially linked to the PICCOLO project, which is currently delayed, and therefore a research plan for CUSTARD was put together to facilitate Isobel's participation in CUSTARD and the necessary equipment sourced. |
Collaborator Contribution | Isobel has greatly contributed to this partnership and collected novel samples for analysis. The results from these samples could add a new dimension to the overall initial objectives of CUSTARD by providing additional information concerning iron biogeochemical cycling. |
Impact | The studentship is a multidisciplinary research collaboration involving both chemistry and biology (microbial ecology). |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with British Antarctic Survey |
Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Working alongside team in the PICCOLO project planning Weddell Sea research in ROSES programme and Orchestra National Capabilities work (NERC). |
Collaborator Contribution | Field work support and hosting of dissemination/meetings |
Impact | None at present (March 2018). |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Hydrothermal Iron supply to the southern ocean |
Organisation | National Oceanography Centre |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | An unexpected result of the CUSTARD field work was the identification of an iron enriched hydrothermal plume entering the SO. Dr Birchill, Dr Milne and Dr Ussher are responsible for the chemical characterization of this plume |
Collaborator Contribution | We are working with collaborators to establish the likey fate of this plume. |
Impact | mulit-disciplinary- marine geochemistry, marine physics |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | University of Plymouth with the National Oceanography Centre and University of Southampton |
Organisation | National Oceanography Centre |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Networking time/meetings, manuscript and proposal writing, dissemination and discussion of data, sharing of laboratory and fieldwork resources |
Collaborator Contribution | Meetings and networking that have lead to other project ideas, ongoing publications and sharing of resources. |
Impact | Academic and societal outputs are listed in the reporting for the associated grants. They have the collaborating institutes listed |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | AMBIO Special Interest Group Meeting of Challenger Society - Ussher |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 20 minute talk entitled "Pathways and timescales of Southern Ocean hydrothermal iron and manganese transport" |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.challenger-society.org.uk/Advances_in_Marine_Biogeochemistry |
Description | Antarctic CUSTARD cruise blog entries and twitter feeds (Dec 2019-Jan 2020) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Regular blogs and twitter feeds were made during the Antarctic research cruise including a blog specific to studying trace metals and iron biogeochemistry |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020 |
URL | https://roses.ac.uk/2020/01/13/trace-metals-on-custard |
Description | Article in ECO magazine - published and online |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A collaboration between University of Plymouth with the Antarctic Quest 21 was formed to sample surface snow across the Antarctic Peninsula leading to an article in ECO magazine. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | http://digital.ecomagazine.com/publication/frame.php?i=707374&p=104&pn=&ver=html5 |
Description | Attended Ocean Obs 19 conference, Hawaii |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Attended Ocean Obs 2019 conference to discuss the challenges to ocean observing systems in coming decace |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | http://www.oceanobs19.net/ |
Description | Challenger Society Conference Presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Neil Wyatt. Research dissemination "Phytoplankton responses to dust addition in the Fe(Mn) co-limited Eastern Pacific sub-Antarctic differ by source region." |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/science-events/the-challenger-society-conference-2022-in-london.ht... |
Description | Conveying annual research meeting University of Plymouth |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A remote research conference focusing on biogeochemical and ecological research at the University of Plymouth, but also including speaker from the European Environment Agency and Bermuda Institute for Ocean Sciences. Reached >25 professional practitioners and >15 post graduate research students. Provided a forum for post graduate student to get feedback from senior scientists. Provided a opportunity for academic researchers to engage with policy makers. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Host session at internation conference- Goldschmidt 2019, Barcelona |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Dr Birchill hosted a session on technological developments in the field of automated measurements in aquatic environments. This took place at Goldschmidt 2019 meeting, Barcelona, attented by over 4000 delegates from around the globe. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://goldschmidt.info/2019/ |
Description | Lead of national workshop (Novel Sensor Networks, Plymouth 2022) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This event opens dialogue between academia and industry partners to share knowledge and foster collaborations between technology users and creators. A showcase of the current cutting-edge developments in marine and environmental intelligence technology - including sensors, platforms, data modelling and networks - leads into a forward-looking session outlining the potential opportunities in developing and improving this technology, with discussion on how to overcome them. Those attending in person will have the opportunity to browse stands featuring technology and relevant projects from the University and partner organisations, including West Country Rivers Trust, Clearwater Sensors and SmartSound with Plymouth Marine Laboratory. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
URL | https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/research-festival/2022-novel-sensors |
Description | Lectures, practical assignments and projects on marine and analytical chemistry |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Lectures, practical assignments and dissertation projects based on marine and analytical chemistry and our current NERC research activities were conducted by SJU, AM and AB |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Online Marine Chemistry Seminar - World Oceans Day (June 2021) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Online morning seminar as part of a day of talks from the University of Plymouth to celebrate World Oceans Day. Simon Ussher delivered a talk entitled "Feeding the food chain in the modern ocean - importance of nutrients and ocean chemistry" |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/study/outreach/world-oceans-day-schools-conference-2021 |
Description | Online blog for collaborative Antarctic exploration project (Antarctic Quest 21) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Online blog to reach and inspire public and students for collaborative Antarctic exploration project (Antarctic Quest 21) . The University of Plymouth team have offered sampling gear, methods and analysis of trace elements in snow samples Antarctic snow samples: the data and findings will contribute to RoSES projects. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | http://www.antarcticquest21.com/sampling-metals-in-the-snow-pack/ |
Description | Participation in EU meeting in UNESCO headquarterrs on Global Ocean Observation (First International AtlantOS Symposium 25-28 March 2019 at UNESCO Headquarters, Paris) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Participation in discussion of the future of international efforts for ocean observation in the Atlantic Ocean |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://www.atlantos-h2020.eu/first-international-atlantos-symposium/ |
Description | Presentation at national confernce 'Advances in Marine Biogeochemistry' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presented at AMBIO conference, collection of marine biogoechemists in the UK. Dr Birchill invited to the University of Bristol to establish collaboration based on work presented. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://www.challenger-society.org.uk/Advances_in_Marine_Biogiochemistry |
Description | Presented at international workshop on carbon uptake and sequestration in the ocean |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presented to an expert group assembled for a meeting at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton. Requested to lead trace metal harmonization effort between different projects. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://noc-events.co.uk/biarritz-workshop |
Description | Radio interview |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Impacts of COVID-19 on the Marine Environment- Interview on BBC Radio Devon (7th May 2020, Radio interview with Richard Thompson)dio |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | RoSES and ENCORE Annual Science Meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk and participation in the The Role of the Southern Ocean in the Earth System programme Annual Science Meeting |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://roses.ac.uk/ |
Description | RoSES programme wrap-up meeting (July 2023) - Ussher |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | National programme wrap-up meeting to report on outcomes, further synthesis and dissemination. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | School Activity |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | School activity for 16-18 yr olds, Antartic krill sample from a zooplankton net sample from Adrian Martin (NOC) during the RoSES programme was returned to Liskeard School and Community College (Cornwall) for school for students to identify species and material. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Seminar for University of Plymouth (SoGEES, March 2022) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | 1 hour seminar given on NERC RoSES project work to School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences - online, recorded and live audience (Simon Ussher 16th March 2022) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | TRACEAMORS Working group meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | TRACESAMORS (TRACE metal SAMplers and sensORS) workshop in Septemeber 2022 was the start of a new international workgroup with organisers Agathe Laes, Simon Ussher, Max Grande and Andy Bowie and Matthieu Waeles. The aim to provide opportunity to promote multidisciplinary and multi-institutional research to instigate a much needed step change in the monitoring of trace metal dynamics in the marine environment. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://tracesamors.sciencesconf.org/ |
Description | Talk and session chair for international conference (AGU/ASLO Ocean Sciences 2022) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Recorded talk online and live presentation in group with 30 mins questions/discussion (Simon Ussher). "The Pacific Antarctic Ridge and Southern East Pacific Rise as key sources of iron and manganese to the Southern Ocean" in CT03 Advances in understanding of the biogeochemical processes shaping the basin-scale distributions of trace elements and their isotopes session (28th Feb 2022) Session co-chair for CT01 Temporal Variability of Bioactive Trace Elements in the Ocean: Towards Constraining Drivers, Mechanisms and Timescales (Simon Ussher) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.aslo.org/osm2022 |
Description | Weekend open day and school visits at the University of Plymouth |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Marine/polar research section in talks to parents and school children visitng for opendays at the chemistry programme (typically 6 per year) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020 |