Southeren Ocean Carbon and Heat Impact on Climate (SO-CHIC)
Foto: Svein Østerhus, NORCE
The Southern Ocean regulates the global climate by controlling heat and carbon exchanges between the atmosphere and the ocean. It is responsible for about 60-90% of the excess heat (i.e. associated with anthropogenic climate change) absorbed by the World Oceans each year, and is also recognised to largely control decadal scale variability of Earth carbon budget, with key implications for decision makers and regular global stocktake agreed as part of the Paris agreement. Despite such pivotal climate importance, its representation in global climate model represents one of the main weaknesses of climate simulation and projection because too little is known about the underlying processes. Limitations come both from the lack of observations in this extreme environment and its inherent sensitivity to intermittent small-scale processes that are not captured in current Earth system models. NORCE leads workpackage 3.
Project facts
Name
Southeren Ocean Carbon and Heat Impact on Climate (SO-CHIC)
Status
Active
Duration
01.11.19 - 31.10.23
