Atmmosphere

Research: Carbon cycle

The dependence on fossil fuel energy sources since the industrial revolution has undoubtedly shaped economic prosperity for the developed world. However, an unfortunate by-product of fossil fuel combustion is the emission of carbon dioxide (CO₂), an important greenhouse gas that is known to influence long-term climatic variations through its ability to absorb infra-red radiation.

Human emissions of CO₂ have resulted in atmospheric levels higher than any period over the last 20 million years. The continued emission of CO₂ will lead to widespread climate change related impacts.

Researchers within the Climate Policy and Carbon Cycle sub-program aim to quantify and understand both the human sources and natural sinks of carbon dioxide with the goal to examine international policies required to bring about mitigation of future climate change.

A particular emphasis is made on understanding Australia's CO₂ emissions and its role in the Kyoto Protocol and the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (AP6), which has recently been developed as an alternative.

Direct oceanic effects of elevated atmospheric CO₂ and biogeochemistry (for example ocean acidification or coral reef calcification) are also examined through the use of both observations and mathematical modelling techniques.

Researchers at the CCRC also study climate-carbon cycle interactions on millennial timescales. A particular emphasis is made on past changes in deep and bottom water mass transport and their impact on the marine carbon cycle and atmospheric CO₂. A model of ocean plankton interaction with the global carbon cycle is currently under development, in order to explore cycle sensitivity to the combined effects of ocean warming, acidification, and deoxygenation.

CCRC academic staff currently active in this area of research

CCRC research staff currently active in this area of research

Latest news

Announcing the Australasian Antarctic Expedition 2013-2014
06 May 2013
To mark the centenary of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition led by the great scientist and explorer Sir Douglas Mawson, Professor Chris Turney and Dr Chris Fogwill of the CCRC are leading a privately-funded voyage of discovery to the Antarctic during the Austral summer of 2013-2014.

New website will let you Adrift away
24 April 2013
Dr Erik Van Sebille along with David Fuchs and Jack Murray has created a new website, Adrift, which allows visitors to track the path of flotsam for the next 10 years from almost any place by the ocean.

Last 100 years reverse 1400 years of global cooling
22 April 2013
The first continental-scale reconstruction of temperatures over the past 2000 years by 78 scientists from 24 countries has highlighted the unusual nature of the 20th century warming.

More news...

The Copenhagen Diagnosis

On 25th November 2009 members of The Climate Change Research Centre, as part of a group of 26 international climate scientists, were part of a major international release of a new report synthesizing the latest climate research to emerge since the last IPCC Assessment Report of 2007.

The Big Engine 2: oceans and weather

Federation Fellow and 2008 Eureka Prize winner, Professor Matthew England of CCRC, on the latest research into the role oceans play on weather.

The Science of Climate Change: Questions and Answers

Co-authored by Professor Steven Sherwood and Professor Matt England of CCRC, this Academy of Science report aims to summarise and clarify the current understanding of the science of climate change for non-specialist readers.

The Big Engine 1: oceans and weather

Federation Fellow and 2008 Eureka Prize winner, Professor Matthew England of CCRC, on the latest research into the role oceans play on weather.

New insights into the climate of the past 2,000 years

A comprehensive new scientific study has revealed fresh insights into the climate of the past 2,000 years, providing further evidence that the 20th century warming was not a natural phenomenon. After 1900, increasing temperatures reversed a previous long-term cooling trend. This 20th Century warming has occurred simultaneously in all regions except Antarctica.

The dynamics of the global ocean circulation

The ocean is far from a stagnant body of water. Instead, it is constantly in motion, at speeds from a few centimetres per second to two metres per second in the most vigorous currents.

Leave the ocean garbage alone: we need to stop polluting first

Recent plans to clean plastics from the five massive ocean garbage patches could do more damage to the environment than leaving the plastic right where it is.

Charting the garbage patches of the sea

Just how much plastic is there floating around in our oceans? Dr Erik van Sebille from UNSW's Climate Change Research Centre has completed a study of ocean "garbage patches", and has found that in some regions the amount of plastic outweighs that of marine life.

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