Investigation of Marine Physical-Biogeochemical Interactions During Storm Conditions Off of the North Carolina Coast
Sponsor: North Carolina Sea Grant and Space Grant
Collaborators
Awarded to Laura McGee, Ph.D. student in OOMG.
Funding Period
September 2017 - August 2018
Description
This project is supported by a competitive award of research and travel support to a graduate student in North Carolina.
While studies suggest that tropical cyclones (TCs) often cause an efflux of CO2 from the ocean to the atmosphere, in contrast to the ocean’s usual role as a carbon sink, few studies examine the contribution of hurricane-induced phytoplankton blooms in total carbon exchange. Understanding all facets of atmosphere-ocean carbon exchange is critical for understanding climate change. This project seeks to understand and quantify the variability of air-sea CO2 exchange on the North Carolina coast and nearby regions by using NASA satellite sea surface temperature, chlorophyll a, and pCO2 data to statistically determine the variability of pCO2 exchange to TC maximum sustained wind speed and translation speed.
Results
Poster: “Mesoscale and Submesoscale Mechanisms Behind Asymmetric Cooling and Hurricane-Induced Phytoplankton Blooms,” presented by Laura McGee at the 2018 Ocean Sciences meeting.
