News
Australian Antarctic Division Krill poo experiment!
As part of our WWF project to increase knowledge on how krill and salps contribute to carbon sequestration, Research Assistant Anona Griffiths headed off to Tasmania (Australia) to carry out experiments with, of course, krill poo! Anona spent 2-months at the Australian Antarctic Division krill aquarium experimenting on how krill poo, as well as krill dead bodies and exoskeletons, contribute to carbon sinks in the ocean.
Three funding announcements for the Cavan group!
July has been a bumper month in funding to support the Cavan research group in driving forward research on the ocean carbon cycle. In the next 6 months three new projects will start (and excitingly 3 post-doc positions will be available), two of which were funded by NERC and the third by Horizon Europe.
ICED Co-chair
Emma is now a co-chair of ICED, the international multidisciplinary program on ‘Integrating Climate and Ecosystem Dynamics in the Southern Ocean’. ICED is a regional group of IMBeR, and works to coordinate Southern Ocean scientists to better understand climate interactions in the Southern Ocean, the implications for ecosystem dynamics, the impacts on biogeochemical cycles, and the development of sustainable management procedures.
New WWF-funded project on Southern Ocean zooplankton carbon sequestration
A 3-year project funded by WWF and led by Imperial has just begun with the aim to increase knowledge on how krill and salps contribute to carbon (C) sequestration. Excitingly Anona Griffiths has joined the team as a Research Assistant to lead this work, having finished her Masters at Imperial in September 2022. You can read more about the project on the Research page.
OCB Fish, Fisheries and Carbon meeting
This week in collaboration with OCB I co-chaired an online workshop to bring together experts on 1) the role of fish in the biological carbon pump, 2) the potential impact of fishing on oceanic carbon and 3) what the implications to society would be if fishing management changed to protect the biological pump.
ICES Workshop chair
A new ICES workshop has been formed, to assess the impact of fishing on oceanic carbon. The new workshop WKFISHCARBON will be chaired by Emma and David Reid, with the first meeting scheduled for 24-28th April at ICES headquarters in Denmark. The Terms of Reference can be found online.
COP27 event panel member
Our Fish held an event at COP27 this year in the Ocean Pavilion to discuss how Fish are carbon engineers and the impact fisheries may be having on carbon storage.
Lead scientist in WWF report on krill carbon
WWF Australia have published a report ‘Antarctic krill: Powerhouse of the Southern Ocean’ to highlight the critical role krill have in maintaining ecosystem health. A key part of the report was to estimate the value of krill in ‘blue carbon’, storing carbon in the ocean away from the atmosphere.
Awarded fellowship by the Challenger Society of Marine Science
This year I was awarded one of the Challenger Society of Marine Science fellowships, which celebrates ‘excellence in marine science’ and the careers of early-mid level researchers in the UK. It was an honour to receive the award and recognition, and even more exciting to receive it at the Challenger Society’s biennial conference, this year celebrating 150 years since HMS Challenger set sail to circumnavigate the globe to learn about the ocean depths.