Pagecontent:
NEBROC
NEtherlands - BRemen OCeanography
NEBROC stands for NEtherlands BRemen OCeanography. This project is to establish a NETWORK between Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) and the four Bremen marine science institutions (Geosciences Department of Bremen University (GeoB), Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Marine and Polar Sciences (AWI), Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology (MPI) and the Center for Tropical Marine Ecology (ZMT), all combined in MARUM (Center for Marine Environmental Sciences).
Overseen by the Scientific Steering Committee, the first phase of the project has been successfully completed. In the now second phase of the project, along with the establishment of a "European Graduate College for Marine Sciences" (ECOLMAS), the NETWORK is the basis for horizontal activities, as the development of mutual scientific programmes which employ new technologies and methods, as well as for the joint preparation of proposals for national and international (especially EU) funds.
Five research themes form the scientific focus of the NEBROC phase II:
Ocean Carbon Fluxes and Biological Feedbacks
We focus on quantifying the biological pump and CO2 sink function of the Weddell Sea in a comprehensive carbon budget. Work on the establishment of iron limitation of Antarctic phytoplankton both in cultures and in the field. We found that A CO2 rise causes reduction of the rate of calcification relative to organic matter production by coccolithophorids
Proxy Validation and New Proxies
Proxies are at the base of every climate history reconstructio and a mechanistic understanding is required to make these reconstructions robust under a wide range of environmental conditions. The paleoceanographers toolbox consists of proxies based on biological hard parts and on organic compounds. The combination of these two within this theme allows to cross-check very different proxies for the same target parameter and comprises the added value of the proposed collaboration.
Climate and Palaeoclimate Variability
We established an internationally well-recognized record of Neogene climate history for the tropics. Now, the NEBROC co-operation for climate history should expand also back into older geological times, because methodologies, climate proxies, and laboratory tools used by Royal NIOZ and GeoB geochemists and geologists can be very successfully applied also to marine and continental sediment sections from older, e.g., Cretaceous strata.
Continental Margin Processes
NEBROC scientists have been and are at the forefront of the exploration of carbonate mounds. Consequently, the focus of activities in the field of Continental Margin Research is on the further investigation of these spectacular features.
Functional Diversity and the Key Role of Individual Species
Expertise and experimental facilities at Bremerhaven, Helgoland, Sylt and Texel are combined to improve experimental design, data analysis, and teaching in the field of functional ecosystem diversity and species interactions. The research will supplement ongoing projects at the AWI and the Royal NIOZ as to develop a more complete view of how different mechanisms at the level of individuals (defence mechanisms, bio-engineering) impact inter-specific relations and eventually food web structure and export flux.