Center for Marine Environmental Sciences

Home
Our Research
Marine Carbon Cycle

Marine Carbon Cycle

deciphering & bilancing

Through the direct exchange of gases at the sea surface, the marine carbon cycle plays a central role in the climate system. Greenhouse gases (especially carbon dioxide CO₂) can be absorbed by the ocean from the atmosphere as well as released into it. The marine carbon cycle is one of the factors that determine the direction of this exchange.

The aim of the researchers at MARUM is to gain a better understanding of the various core processes of the marine carbon cycle. The marine carbon cycle describes the occurrence and reservoirs of carbon compounds in the oceans, as well as the associated biological and abiotic processes.This includes the primary incorporation of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) into photosynthesizing biomass (algae), as well as the transport and decomposition of organic material on and in the seafloor.

Typical questions are:

Where do organisms get the energy to maintain their metabolism?
Which symbioses and exchange processes play a role?
Under which extreme pressure and temperature conditions is life still possible?

In order to successfully answer these and many other questions, MARUM has excellent and extensive equipment and facilities.

Participating Research Groups

Aggregate of marine snow. Photo: MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen; M. H. Iversen) — left: sinking organic particles; right: sketch of the marine carbon cycle

Selection of current research projects

C-Quest

Dicover molecular pathway for glyco-carbon sequestration

(ERC Consolidator Grant)

sea4society

Innovative approaches to improve the carbon storage potential of coastal vegetation ecosystems

(DAM Research Mission)

Archean Park

Relics of ancient cellular biogeochemistry in an underground ecosystem with high CO₂ content

(ERC Synergy Grant)

Current news

Showing 45-48 of 89 items.

Fumio Inagaki (left) receives the Philipp Franz von Siebold Award from Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Photo: Humboldt Foundation/ D. Ausserhofer

Jun 30, 2023

Philipp Franz von Siebold Prize for Fumio Inagaki

Fumio Inagaki is one of the world's leading scientists in geomicrobiology. He studies the relationship between geochemical processes and microbial ...

Benjamin Nettersheim, one of the lead authors of the study, examines ultra-high-resolution elemental and molecular maps of 1.64 billion years-old rock samples analyzed at the Geobiomolecular Imaging Laboratory at MARUM. Photo: MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen; V. Diekamp

Jun 7, 2023

Scientists discover ‘lost world’ of our early ancestors in billion-year-old rocks

Newly discovered biomarker signatures point to a whole range of previously unknown organisms that dominated complex life on Earth about a billion years ...

In the spotlight of the U.S. deep-sea submersible ALVIN, a small reddish-brown vent massif can be seen on the seafloor of the Guaymas Basin. This formation is surrounded by abundant hydrothermally heated oil-rich sediments covered by white and orange bacterial mats. The core from which the Candidatus Alkanophaga archaea ultimately originated was collected by the team of the manned deep-sea submersible. Photo: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Photo: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Jun 1, 2023

Bremen researchers cultivate archaea that break down crude oil in novel ways

The seafloor is home to around one-third of all the microorganisms on the Earth and is inhabited even at a depth of several kilometers. Only when it ...

Glacial meltwater streams supplying rock particles (incl. organic carbon) to downstream fjords ecosystems. Picture: Torben Stichel

Jun 1, 2023

Microbes use carbon from ancient rocks

Microbial communities in marine sediments are able to use ancient material as a carbon source. Although they prefer fresh organic material, if there is not ...