Phytoplankton bloom
MODIS ocean colour image
Foam on the beach: A natural phenomenon?
Monitoring the earth oceans from space
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| Unité d’Océanographie Chimique (ULG) | |
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www.co2.ulg.ac.be | |
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English name: Chemical Oceanograpy Unit Thesaurus terms (13) : Biogas; Biogeochemistry; Carbon cycle; Carbon dioxide; Chemical oceanography; Education: Formation; Mangroves; Nitrogen cycle; Nutrient cycles; Phosphorus cycle; Research: Environment; Research: Environment (water); Trophic structure Address: Quartier Agora Allée du 6 Août, 19 4000 Liège Belgium |
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| Type: Scientific | |||
| Abstract: |
| The Chemical Oceanography unit originates from the Oceanology laboratory and became an independent research unit within the department of Astrophysics, Geophysics and Oceanography in 1996. Later, the unit became part of the Freshwater and Oceanic Science Unit of Research (FOCUS). This research entity federates ten laboraties of the University of Liège working on oceanography and limnology and integrates multidisciplinary scientific expertise about aquatic systems. The research group studies biogeochemical cycles in oceans, coastal zones and estuaries, from tropical to polar environments, with an emphasis on greenhouse gases such as CO2, CH4, N2O and dimethyl sulfide (DMS). Key events since the establishment of the group include a publication in the renowned journal 'Science' about CO2 emission from European estuaries (Frankignoulle et al., 1998 - Science), a publication on the first synthesis of CO2 fluxes in coastal environments (Borges, 2005 - Estuaries), a publication on the first estimates of gas exchange between sea ice and the atmosphere (Delille et al., 2007 - Limnology and Oceanography) and the first measurements of CO2 fluxes by eddy-covariance on Antarctic sea ice.
Within the marine and estuarine fields, this group performs research on the biogeochemistry of different systems, such as the Scheldt estuary, the Belgian coastal zone, the North Sea, the Bay of Biscay, Iberian coastal upwelling systems, the Mediterranean Sea, mangrove ecosystems, tropical estuaries, sea ice (Arctic and Antarctic) and the Southern Ocean. Biogeochemistry studies are also performed on coccolithophores, Posidonia oceanica meadows and macrophyte coastal habitats. The group also studies the effects of ocean acidification on marine biogeochemistry, the global synthesis of CO2 fluxes in continental shelves and the global synthesis of CO2 and CH4 fluxes in estuaries. In the future, the Chemical Oceanography unit will continue to study greenhouse gases with a particular emphasis on establishing long-term time series. The research group collaborates with some renowned national and international universities and institutes such as the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, KU Leuven University, Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium), Bordeaux-I (France), the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) and the Dalhousie University (Canada). The research group also participates in several marine research projects, such as the European COCOS project (to improve the exchange of datasets between projects), CARBO-OCEAN (concerning an integrated assessment of marine carbon sources and sinks), PEACE (role of pelagic calcification and export of carbonate production in climate change) and the CANOPY project (to assess the potential role of the Southern Bight of the North Sea and the heavily polluted estuarine plumes, as sources or sinks of atmospheric carbon dioxide). |
| Publications (3) | Top |
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Gypens, N.; Borges, A.V.; Lancelot, C. (2009). Effect of eutrophication on air-sea CO2 fluxes in the coastal Southern North Sea: a model study of the past 50 years. Glob. Chang. Biol. 15(4): 1040-1056. | Top | Publications |
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