Deadline for applications: 31 August 2018
Description: About one third of the CO2 released into the atmosphere by anthropogenic activity since the Industrial revolution has been taken up by the oceans, resulting in a shift in marine carbonate chemistry, including a decrease in seawater pH and carbonate ion concentration; a situation referred to as ‘Ocean Acidification’ (OA). The majority of scientific efforts to-date for monitoring, observing and predicting the effects of OA have focused on using models and in situ studies (such as buoys, research cruises and laboratory- or field-based studies). Satellite Earth Observation (EO) has yet to be fully exploited in this area of research, but could play an important role in monitoring changes in oceanic carbonate chemistry, as well as assessing vulnerable regions, as they can provide quasi-synoptic, reproducible and well-calibrated measurements. A recent European Space Agency pilot project ‘Pathfinders Ocean Acidification’ highlighted
this approach (Land et al. 2015) and then established that satellite observations can in fact reproduce carbonate parameters with accuracy comparable to in situ or model-driven approaches. However, the Pathfinders-OA project also highlighted some regions where the empirical algorithms underperformed and further development is needed, including the Arctic Ocean.
