Probing the ocean carbon cycle with autonomous robots

Is the very fast Ocean Biological Carbon Pump Stable? Berkeley’s new generation of autonomous robots aim to find out.

The ocean’s biological carbon pump (OBCP) moves 10 Pg (1 Pg=10^15 grams) of carbon per year from surface waters to the deep sea. The strength of the pump is the same as present human emissions of CO2 (as carbon) to the atmosphere. Without the OBCP, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would go up by 30%. Is the pump stable? This presentation provides an overview of the role of ocean biology in the global carbon cycle and of robotic methods being developed at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National laboratory to address this question.

Speaker: Jim Bishop, UC Berkeley