The UKOA programme was active between 2010-2016, with supported research completed in mid-2015 and knowledge exchange work in early 2016.
This website now has archive status.

Consortia projects

UKOA consists seven consortia projects, each delivering a key part of the programme and designed to answer the following questions:

 

   

Consortia project

  

Lead scientist

Sampling tract of the NE Atlantic

  

How much variability is there in oceanic CO2 uptake and what are the trends for the future?

  

Led by Professor Andrew Watson, University of East Anglia
         

Example of the cold water coral Lophelia pertusa.

  

What are the impacts of ocean acidification on key benthic (seabed) ecosystems, communities, habitats, species and their life cycles?

  

Led by Dr Stephen Widdicombe, Plymouth Marine Laboratory

 
         
Calcium carbonate-shelled pteropods are members of oceanic plankton, thought to be vulnerable to ocean acidification  

How will ocean acidification affect the biology of surface ocean communities and biogeochemistry, and how that might feedback to climate?

  

Led by Dr Toby Tyrrell, National Oceanography Centre
         
Marine carbonate chemistry equation  

How will future ocean acidification impact the ocean carbon cycle and could it further amplify rising CO2 and climate change??

  

Led by Dr Andy Ridgwell, University of Bristol
         

pH depth profile

  

How will ocean acidification impact ecosystems and chemical cycling in UK and Arctic regional seas?

  

Led by Dr Jerry Blackford, Plymouth Marine Laboratory
         
Newly recovered borehole through marine sediments in Tanzania showing abrupt acidification events  

What were the effects of rapid ocean acidification events in the Earth’s past?

  

Led by Professor Paul Pearson, Cardiff University
         
Controlled environment laboratory  

What are the potential impacts of ocean acidification on the life stages of commercially important species, on their associated ecosystems and socio-economics, and their capacity to resist and adapt?

  

Led by Professor Kevin Flynn, University of Swansea

 

 

These projects are supported by the Knowledge Exchange Office, based at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, and a national analytical facility led by Professor Eric Achterberg, National Oceanography Centre.