Overview

The ability of the oceans to regulate the climate system and mitigate its present and future changes depends on the strength and variability of its circulation and the intimate connection between dynamical and biogeochemical processes. By connecting water masses across the full depth of the ocean, the ocean circulation induces a large-scale redistribution of carbon, heat and nutrients that is key to the Earth’s climate and biogeochemical cycles.

My research focuses on:

• The exchange rate of tracers between the surface and the ocean interior

• The dynamics of the interior waters, which constitute the largest reservoirs for heat and carbon

(a)

The links between the global-scale ocean circulation and the distribution of tracers such as anthropogenic carbon and heat is shown here. For example, the sinking of dense waters in the North Atlantic provides a pathway for the accumulation of anthropogenic carbon in this region. Similarly, the circumpolar circulation around Antarctica creates a barrier to the transfer of heat south; changes in such circulation have been causing an excessive heat flux to terminating glaciers in West Antarctica, which is causing ice shelf melting, with gloabl implications for sea level rise.

(a) Schematic of the global Meridional Overturning Circulation, from Meredith, 2022. (b) Inventory of anthropogenic carbon accumulated in the ocean interior up to 2013 (data from GLODAP gridded dataset). (c) Ocean heat content calculated from GLODAP gridded dataset.