BICEP (Biological Pump and Carbon Exchange) is an ongoing project funded by ESA, led by Dr. Shubha Sathyendranath and managed by Dr. Gemma Kulk, who are both scientist at PML and members of the PRIMUS team. The goal of BICEP is to synergistically combine space data, in-situ measurements, and model outputs towards characterizing the main aspects of the ocean carbon cycle and advance our understanding of its processes and interactions with the Earth system.
In a recent article published on the ESA website, BICEP PI Dr Sathyendranath explains: “The role that phytoplankton play in the ocean carbon cycle cannot be overstated. They are tiny, but versatile and dynamic, with a huge collective impact. Through BICEP, we are gaining greater insight into the complexities of the processes involved and their magnitude, and we rely on data from satellites, such as ocean colour data, to do this. The full interview to Dr Sathyendranath is available on YouTube.
The project has recently launched a valuable animation about the importance of marine phytoplankton as the main player in the ocean biological carbon pump, while also highlighting how Earth Observation data contribute crucially to unravel the functioning of biogeochemical ocean-related processes.
Through BICEP, a project funded by ESA’s Science for Society Programme, scientists are using ocean colour satellite data to gain greater insight into the complexities of the processes involved. Video Credits here.
Based on over 20 years of satellite observations of the ocean, BICEP compiled and recently made available a comprehensive data set of pools and fluxes of the biological carbon pump for the global ocean, including e.g., carbon pools produced by different cell-sized groups of phytoplankton, particulate organic- and inorganic carbon fluxes of primary production and export production. This dataset is available online for spatiotemporal visualization and exploration at Earth Data System Lab, allowing the biological carbon pump to be quantified and spatiotemporal changes in the cycling of marine carbon to be assessed. The data are also available to download from the CEDA archive.
Global distribution of phytoplankton primary production produced by project BICEP, as seen from the Earth Data System Lab.
For more information about the project, please visit www.bicep-project.org.