The global ocean absorbs roughly 25% of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. A significant portion of this is driven by the conversion of CO2 into organic compounds (e.g., photosynthesis) by single cell plants in the ocean, a process called the biological carbon pump. Despite the global importance of this process, it remains a daunting task to accurately predict the future strength of the biological carbon pump based upon existing knowledge and ocean ecosystem models. Furthermore, the response of phytoplankton physiology to changing ocean chemistry—such as ocean acidification—and the importance of previously underappreciated mechanisms of the biological carbon pump are additional complicating factors. The goal of this seminar is to present new and developing research on the ocean’s biological carbon pump.

Source: Sciencedaily.com

Follow Doug on the 10 day cruise here.

Pink sand. It makes Bermuda’s beaches some of the most beautiful and picturesque in the world…but what makes it pink?

For the past two decades, BIOS scientists have stood behind the idea that mesoscale eddies are a driving force in coastal and open ocean processes, including biogeochemical cycling and the global carbon cycle. As research technologies improved over this time period it became apparent that, not only were they correct, but that eddies are far more important to ocean and climate systems than previously imagined.

Last February, 11 BIOS scientists participated in the 2012 Ocean Sciences Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah as either the leads or co-authors of 10 talks and 13 posters. A biennial conference held jointly by The Oceanography Society (TOS), the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) and the American Geophysical Union (AGU), this year’s Ocean Sciences Meeting attracted more than 4,000 scientists, managers and educators from around the globe.

At the intersection of oceanographic science and the (re)insurance industry stands the Risk Prediction Initiative (RPI), founded in 1995 by a group of local Bermudian insurers and reinsurers and BIOS.

May 04, 2012 — DeGroote Family donates $500,000 to Dalhousie University/BIOS

Last week three BIOS scientists – Tim Noyes and Dr. Eric Hochberg in the Coral Reef Ecology and Optics Lab [CREOL] and Andrew Collins in the Bermuda Ocean Acidification and Coral Reef Investigation [BEACON] Lab – presented their research at the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium [ICRS] in Cairns, Queensland, Australia.

Earlier this year, scientists wrapped up the second research cruise, as part of a multi-year project investigating a feature of the Southern Ocean known as the Great Southern Coccolithophore Belt (Great Belt). Coccolithophores are a type of phytoplankton with a unique exoskeleton composed of calcified platelets (coccoliths), giving them the appearance of being heavily armored.