marine vital signs

Without the oceans, the climate crisis would be worse than it is now

"But there's a lot of uncertainty in that number," said Ryan Woosley, an oceanographic chemist and principal research scientist in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS)

To close the gap, Woosley and a team of other MIT scientists developed a research proposal for the MIT Climate Grand Challenges competition

"If we start developing mitigation strategies -- whether by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or reducing emissions -- we need to know where the carbon dioxide is going to understand how effective they are," Woosley said

"This is a trillion-dollar problem," Woosley said

In February, the team's Grand Climate Challenge proposal was one of 27 finalists out of nearly 100 submissions

Woosley and EAPS principal research engineer Christopher Hill led the team

Today, the way data is collected on the flow of carbon dioxide between the air and the ocean is fragmented

"We had a hard time finding it and measuring it," Woosley said

If funded, the team's project would begin by deploying several drones in a small area to test the technology

This data will be used to feed a neural network to create a more accurate map of how much carbon the ocean is taking up, reducing the uncertainty involved in the modelling

Improved carbon cycle models are not only associated with warming

One of the most easily understood impacts is ocean acidification

"The absorption of carbon dioxide by the ocean is a good thing for us, but not for the ocean," Woosley said