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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 77-80 of 89 items.

Rafael Laso Pérez (left) and Gunter Wegener study the metabolism of archaea from deep-sea sediments in the field as well as in the lab. Photo: Tom Pingel

Jun 17, 2020

Otto Hahn Medal for Rafael Laso Pérez

For his outstanding scientific work on the role of archaea in the degradation of non-methane hydrocarbons, Dr. Rafael Laso Pérez is awarded the Otto Hahn ...

The brown algae Fucus vesiculosus grows on stones almost everywhere along the North Sea and Baltic Sea. For the study the researchers also examined fucoidan of these algae like those at the coast of Heligoland. (Photo: Max Planck Institute for Marine Micr

May 25, 2020

Sugar turns brown algae into good carbon stores

Brown algae are important players in the global carbon cycle by fixing large amounts of carbon dioxide and thus extracting this greenhouse gas from the ...

Ammonia-oxidizing archaea under the electron microscope. Photo: MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen; M. Könneke

May 12, 2020

Marine waste management: recycling efficiency by marine microbes

It was only relatively recently that tiny, single-celled thaumarchaea were discovered to exist and thrive in the pelagic ocean, where their population size ...

Coscinodiscus wailesii is a microalgae belonging to the diatoms, which form algal blooms and produce substantial amounts of polysaccharides in energy stores, cell walls and as exudates. The research group Marine Glycobiology studies the turnover and role

Mar 18, 2020

Sugar brings a lot of carbon dioxide into the deeper sea

The oceans are a very important reservoir for carbon in the system of the earth. However, many aspects of the marine carbon cycle are still unknown. ...