UNSW02: impact of carbon dioxide removal on the marine carbon cycle

Supervisor: Dr Nina Ridder (n.ridder@unsw.edu.au)

The ocean is the biggest reservoir for exchangeable carbon in the global carbon cycle. This makes it highly sensitive to changes in the carbon load within the Earth system. Anthropogenic carbon emissions have caused a significant increase in marine carbon load leading to changes in the ability of the ocean to remove carbon from the atmosphere and severe adverse impacts for marine organisms and ecosystems. Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) aims to actively remove carbon from the atmosphere to reverse anthropogenic climate change and reduce global temperature rise and negative effects of increased carbon storage in the ocean.

The student will work with climate model output from Earth System Models participating in the sixth round of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) to assess how a gradual decrease in atmospheric carbon dioxide (1%/year from 4 x pre-industrial CO₂ levels) impacts carbon uptake and storage in the global ocean. Together with a partner project this project will test the reversibility of carbon emissions in terms of the marine system.

Requirements: Some prior programming experience (e.g. Python, Ferret, MATLAB, R, etc.) or a willingness to learn.

Project period: Summer

To apply: the Undergraduate Scholarship application form can be found here