Articles | Volume 23, issue 21
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-7679-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-7679-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
30 Oct 2026
Research article |
| 30 Oct 2026
| 30 Oct 2026
The open uncertainty window in ocean biogeochemical responses to fossil carbon emissions
GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Wischhofstraße 1–3, 24148 Kiel, Germany
Aotearoa Blue Ocean Research, 325A Muritai Road, Eastbourne, Lower Hutt, 5013, New Zealand
Ivy Frenger
GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Wischhofstraße 1–3, 24148 Kiel, Germany
Julia Getzlaff
GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Wischhofstraße 1–3, 24148 Kiel, Germany
Wolfgang Koeve
GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Wischhofstraße 1–3, 24148 Kiel, Germany
Iris Kriest
GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Wischhofstraße 1–3, 24148 Kiel, Germany
Angela Landolfi
ISMAR-CNR, Rome, Italy
Andreas Oschlies
GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Wischhofstraße 1–3, 24148 Kiel, Germany
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Clim. Past, 19, 1559–1584, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1559-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1559-2023, 2023
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Understanding the changes in atmospheric CO2 during the last glacial cycle is crucial to comprehend the impact of climate change in the future. Previous research has hypothesised a key role of greater aeolian iron input into the Southern Ocean in influencing the global atmospheric CO2 levels by impacting the changes in the marine phytoplankton response. In our study, we test this iron hypothesis using climate modelling and constrain the impact of ocean iron supply on global CO2 decrease.
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Wolfgang Koeve and Ivy Frenger
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Florian Schütte, Johannes Hahn, Ivy Frenger, Arne Bendinger, Ahmad Fehmi Dilmahamod, Marco Schulz, and Peter Brandt
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Malcolm J. Roberts, Kevin A. Reed, Qing Bao, Joseph J. Barsugli, Suzana J. Camargo, Louis-Philippe Caron, Ping Chang, Cheng-Ta Chen, Hannah M. Christensen, Gokhan Danabasoglu, Ivy Frenger, Neven S. Fučkar, Shabeh ul Hasson, Helene T. Hewitt, Huanping Huang, Daehyun Kim, Chihiro Kodama, Michael Lai, Lai-Yung Ruby Leung, Ryo Mizuta, Paulo Nobre, Pablo Ortega, Dominique Paquin, Christopher D. Roberts, Enrico Scoccimarro, Jon Seddon, Anne Marie Treguier, Chia-Ying Tu, Paul A. Ullrich, Pier Luigi Vidale, Michael F. Wehner, Colin M. Zarzycki, Bosong Zhang, Wei Zhang, and Ming Zhao
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Miriam Tivig, David P. Keller, and Andreas Oschlies
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Hanqin Tian, Naiqing Pan, Rona L. Thompson, Josep G. Canadell, Parvadha Suntharalingam, Pierre Regnier, Eric A. Davidson, Michael Prather, Philippe Ciais, Marilena Muntean, Shufen Pan, Wilfried Winiwarter, Sönke Zaehle, Feng Zhou, Robert B. Jackson, Hermann W. Bange, Sarah Berthet, Zihao Bian, Daniele Bianchi, Alexander F. Bouwman, Erik T. Buitenhuis, Geoffrey Dutton, Minpeng Hu, Akihiko Ito, Atul K. Jain, Aurich Jeltsch-Thömmes, Fortunat Joos, Sian Kou-Giesbrecht, Paul B. Krummel, Xin Lan, Angela Landolfi, Ronny Lauerwald, Ya Li, Chaoqun Lu, Taylor Maavara, Manfredi Manizza, Dylan B. Millet, Jens Mühle, Prabir K. Patra, Glen P. Peters, Xiaoyu Qin, Peter Raymond, Laure Resplandy, Judith A. Rosentreter, Hao Shi, Qing Sun, Daniele Tonina, Francesco N. Tubiello, Guido R. van der Werf, Nicolas Vuichard, Junjie Wang, Kelley C. Wells, Luke M. Western, Chris Wilson, Jia Yang, Yuanzhi Yao, Yongfa You, and Qing Zhu
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Tianfei Xue, Jens Terhaar, A. E. Friederike Prowe, Thomas L. Frölicher, Andreas Oschlies, and Ivy Frenger
Biogeosciences, 21, 2473–2491, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2473-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2473-2024, 2024
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Phytoplankton play a crucial role in marine ecosystems. However, climate change's impact on phytoplankton biomass remains uncertain, particularly in the Southern Ocean. In this region, phytoplankton biomass within the water column is likely to remain stable in response to climate change, as supported by models. This stability arises from a shallower mixed layer, favoring phytoplankton growth but also increasing zooplankton grazing due to phytoplankton concentration near the surface.
Andreas Oschlies, Lennart T. Bach, Rosalind E. M. Rickaby, Terre Satterfield, Romany Webb, and Jean-Pierre Gattuso
State Planet, 2-oae2023, 1, https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-2-oae2023-1-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-2-oae2023-1-2023, 2023
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Katja Fennel, Matthew C. Long, Christopher Algar, Brendan Carter, David Keller, Arnaud Laurent, Jann Paul Mattern, Ruth Musgrave, Andreas Oschlies, Josiane Ostiguy, Jaime B. Palter, and Daniel B. Whitt
State Planet, 2-oae2023, 9, https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-2-oae2023-9-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-2-oae2023-9-2023, 2023
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Himadri Saini, Katrin J. Meissner, Laurie Menviel, and Karin Kvale
Clim. Past, 19, 1559–1584, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1559-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1559-2023, 2023
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Understanding the changes in atmospheric CO2 during the last glacial cycle is crucial to comprehend the impact of climate change in the future. Previous research has hypothesised a key role of greater aeolian iron input into the Southern Ocean in influencing the global atmospheric CO2 levels by impacting the changes in the marine phytoplankton response. In our study, we test this iron hypothesis using climate modelling and constrain the impact of ocean iron supply on global CO2 decrease.
Iris Kriest, Julia Getzlaff, Angela Landolfi, Volkmar Sauerland, Markus Schartau, and Andreas Oschlies
Biogeosciences, 20, 2645–2669, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2645-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2645-2023, 2023
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Global biogeochemical ocean models are often subjectively assessed and tuned against observations. We applied different strategies to calibrate a global model against observations. Although the calibrated models show similar tracer distributions at the surface, they differ in global biogeochemical fluxes, especially in global particle flux. Simulated global volume of oxygen minimum zones varies strongly with calibration strategy and over time, rendering its temporal extrapolation difficult.
Jiajun Wu, David P. Keller, and Andreas Oschlies
Earth Syst. Dynam., 14, 185–221, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-185-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-185-2023, 2023
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In this study we investigate an ocean-based carbon dioxide removal method: macroalgae open-ocean mariculture and sinking (MOS), which aims to cultivate seaweed in the open-ocean surface and to sink matured biomass quickly to the deep seafloor. Our results suggest that MOS has considerable potential as an ocean-based CDR method. However, MOS has inherent side effects on marine ecosystems and biogeochemistry, which will require careful evaluation beyond this first idealized modeling study.
Chia-Te Chien, Jonathan V. Durgadoo, Dana Ehlert, Ivy Frenger, David P. Keller, Wolfgang Koeve, Iris Kriest, Angela Landolfi, Lavinia Patara, Sebastian Wahl, and Andreas Oschlies
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 5987–6024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-5987-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-5987-2022, 2022
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We present the implementation and evaluation of a marine biogeochemical model, Model of Oceanic Pelagic Stoichiometry (MOPS) in the Flexible Ocean and Climate Infrastructure (FOCI) climate model. FOCI-MOPS enables the simulation of marine biological processes, the marine carbon, nitrogen and oxygen cycles, and air–sea gas exchange of CO2 and O2. As shown by our evaluation, FOCI-MOPS shows an overall adequate performance that makes it an appropriate tool for Earth climate system simulations.
Sophy Oliver, Coralia Cartis, Iris Kriest, Simon F. B Tett, and Samar Khatiwala
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 3537–3554, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-3537-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-3537-2022, 2022
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Global ocean biogeochemical models are used within Earth system models which are used to predict future climate change. However, these are very computationally expensive to run and therefore are rarely routinely improved or calibrated to real oceanic observations. Here we apply a new, fast optimisation algorithm to one such model and show that it can calibrate the model much faster than previously managed, therefore encouraging further ocean biogeochemical model improvements.
Tianfei Xue, Ivy Frenger, A. E. Friederike Prowe, Yonss Saranga José, and Andreas Oschlies
Biogeosciences, 19, 455–475, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-455-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-455-2022, 2022
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The Peruvian system supports 10 % of the world's fishing yield. In the Peruvian system, wind and earth’s rotation bring cold, nutrient-rich water to the surface and allow phytoplankton to grow. But observations show that it grows worse at high upwelling. Using a model, we find that high upwelling happens when air mixes the water the most. Then phytoplankton is diluted and grows slowly due to low light and cool upwelled water. This study helps to estimate how it might change in a warming climate.
Karin Kvale, David P. Keller, Wolfgang Koeve, Katrin J. Meissner, Christopher J. Somes, Wanxuan Yao, and Andreas Oschlies
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 7255–7285, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-7255-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-7255-2021, 2021
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We present a new model of biological marine silicate cycling for the University of Victoria Earth System Climate Model (UVic ESCM). This new model adds diatoms, which are a key aspect of the biological carbon pump, to an existing ecosystem model. Our modifications change how the model responds to warming, with net primary production declining more strongly than in previous versions. Diatoms in particular are simulated to decline with climate warming due to their high nutrient requirements.
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Short summary
We tried to understand how parameter choices can impact ocean model results over long-timescale simulations. Using a standard ocean biogeochemical model, we modified the physics slightly and then used an objective tuning procedure to create 3 ocean biogeochemical models that perform nearly identically for the modern ocean. These 3 models gave similar results but for different underlying reasons, which caused the models to respond differently when forced with fossil CO2 emissions.
We tried to understand how parameter choices can impact ocean model results over long-timescale...
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