Climate is changing due to human emissions of carbon to the atmosphere. But not all the carbon emitted remains there - in fact, over the industrial era, the ocean has absorbed excess carbon equivalent to 40% of all human fossil fuel emissions. Understanding the ocean and its role in the global carbon cycle is critical to understanding and predicting climate change.

The McKinley Ocean Carbon Research Group studies how ocean physical and biogeochemical processes impact large-scale carbon cycling and primary productivity. These studies encompass climate and ocean physics, biogeochemistry and ecology. Our primary research tools are numerical models, large historical datasets and machine learning.

Currently, our primary research thrusts are (1) understanding the external and internal drivers of recent decadal variability in the global ocean carbon sink, (2) using machine learning to map air-sea CO2 fluxes over the last 60+ years, (3) using Earth System Model testbeds to assess uncertainty and identify observation needs for ocean carbon data products, and (4) using a regional coupled physical-biogeochemical model of the Atlantic-Arctic system to assess mechanisms of ocean oxygen and carbon cycling.

Here’s the group in September 2024

Thea Hatlen Heimdal, Abby Shaum, Lauren Moseley, Galen McKinley, Viviana Acquaviva (missing Amanda Fay and Ce Bian)

Ocean Carbon Resources

Please see our LDEO Ocean Carbon site to download data products and code.

In 2024, we developed this data story on the ocean carbon sink. Check out the cool animations created by CarbonPlan.

Previous Work

Please see our Publications for our prior work in these and other areas.