RU5: Future climate and oceans

The impact of retreating ice sheets on the earth’s future carbon cycle and ocean ecosystems is a major unknown. Scientists still disagree on whether the polar regions will emit or absorb carbon over the coming decades, and we know very little about how life in the oceans will alter with ice sheet change. 

We are addressing this major gap in scientific knowledge by pulling together data gathered by iC3 researchers and comprehensively mapping nutrient and carbon fluxes in Greenland and Antarctica. We are modelling the complex interactions between ice, land, ocean, atmosphere and the various organisms they contain. We are assessing whether the retreat of ice sheets and their direct and indirect effects on marine systems will act as accelerator or brake on global warming, and how they will impact the precious ocean ecosystems on which human lives and livelihoods depend.

Our aim is to provide national and international initiatives, including the IPCC and IPBES, with a reliable way to assess how the retreat of polar ice sheets will affect Earth’s future climate and marine ecosystems.