Project Details
Projekt
DenseDrive – Dense-water driven injection and long-range transport of carbon in the Weddell Sea basin
Applicant
Dr. Andreas Rogge
Subject Area
Oceanography
Term
since 2025
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 562122740
Overall, there are still large knowledge gaps in our understanding of carbon (C) supply to the deep basin of the Weddell Sea. Evidence exists that a co-location of dense water formation and propagation with increased biological production on polar continental shelves is driving a so far widely unquantified lateral injection mechanism of C into the polar basins. The Weddell Sea, as a major area of polar dense water formation but also high primary productivity in ice-free areas on the continental shelves might be a key area of this bio-physical carbon pump but detailed data is scarce. The aim of the here proposed project is to characterize the Dense-water driven injection and long-range transport of carbon in the Weddell Sea basin (DenseDrive) and to elucidate the footprint of the additional carbon supply on the pelagic deep-sea fauna. Therefore, new data during an upcoming campaign (2026) will be collected and compiled with existing data from the last years and decades. DenseDrive will make use of the tremendous synergies that are possible by connecting the profound oceanographic knowledge about water mass circulation in the Weddell Sea area with measurements of C-inventories in the circulating dense waters. Furthermore, DenseDrive will also implement existing data from previous numerical ocean and biogeochemistry model runs to provide a broad mechanistic understanding regarding the spatial coverage of the C propagation and temporal trends caused by seasonality and ongoing global change. Altogether, DenseDrive will shed new light on the biogeochemical impact of lateral transport within the biological and physical carbon pump and its footprint on the pelagic Weddell Sea C budget.
DFG Programme
Infrastructure Priority Programmes
