Biological Oceanography
in a Changing Ocean

Peter Yeung relates how was the world’s first scientific field experiment with ocean alkalinity enhancement, where we participated during september and october in collaboration with GEOMAR.

Javier Arístegui, catedrático de ecología, explica en 'Más de uno' qué procesos tecnológicos se están desarrollando para absorber el dióxido de carbono de la atmósfera con el objetivo de frenar el cambio climático.

Javier Arístegui, professor of ecology, explains in 'More than one' what technological processes are being developed to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in order to slow down climate change.

In this study, where some of our researchers participated, Moritz Baumann et al. test how artificial upwelling could be optimised to cause as much carbon sequestration as possible. It does matter how nutrient-rich deepwater is added to the surface community.

La prensa se hace eco de la presentación que realizamos del proyecto OceanNETs el pasado lunes 18 de octubre en el Poema del Mar. Para aquellos interesados que no pudieron ver la charla en directo pueden pinchar aquí para verla y descubrir la importancia de estas tecnologías de emisión negativa y su gran potencial como recurso para captar CO2 de la atmósfera y reducir así el impacto del cambio climático.

The press is talking about the OceanNETs presentation we did on Monday 18 October at Poema del Mar Aquarium. For those interested in watching the full talk you can click here, and find out the importance of these Negative Emission Technologies and their great potential as a resource to remove atmospheric CO2 and reduce climate change impact.

El lunes 18 de octubre, a partir de las 10 horas, en el Poema del Mar, tendrá lugar la presentación del proyecto OceanNETs, con el título ‘El océano como aliado contra el cambio climático’, que contará con la presencia del catedrático de la ULPGC Javier Arístegui, acompañado de tres de los doctorandos que desarrollan su tesis en torno a este proyecto.

On Monday 18 October, from 10 am, the Poema del Mar Aquarium in the city of Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, will host a public presentation of the work that OceanNETs is carrying out on the island.

In this study, led by Marta Sebastián, researchers test the hypothesis that physical and environmental barriers in the Mediterranean Sea, such as the Sicily Strait and the Strait of Gibraltar, favor the development of specific prokaryotic assemblages, leading to changes in community structure both in the vertical and horizontal spatial scales.

Aquí compartimos la grabación del primer día de las Jornadas UNESCO en Canarias donde podéis ver la ponencia de Javier Arístegui a partir del minuto 59 para conocer cuáles serán las líneas estratégicas, los objetivos específicos y las acciones que se tomarán dentro de la Cátedra UNESCO de Gestión Ambiental y de los Recursos Marinos.

Here we share the full recording of the first day within the Conference UNESCO in the Canary Islands, where you can watch Javier Arístegui's presentation  of the UNESCO Chair in Environmental and Marine Resources Management.

Con motivo de la celebración del 50 aniversario del programa Man and Biosphere la Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria celebrará el evento “CONOCIMIENTO Y TERRITORIO EN LA ERA DEL CAMBIO CLIMÁTICO” donde Javier Arístegui presentará la Cátedra UNESCO de Gestión Ambiental y de los Recursos Marinos. Si estáis interesados en asistir podéis inscribiros al evento aquí.

On the occasion of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the programme Man and Biosphere, the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria will celebrate the event "KNOWLEDGE AND TERRITORY IN THE CLIMATE CHANG ERA", where Javier Arístegui will present the UNESCO Chair in Environmental and Marine Resources Management. If you are interested on the event you can register here.

Javier Arístegui will be at the Barcelona New Economy Week – BNEW is a physical and digital B2B event that gathers unique events of the sectors of Logistics, Real Estate, Digital Industry, Ecommerce, Economic Zones, Mobility, Sustainability, Talent, Science and City. They all share a common denominator: New Economy. He will be talking about Ocean Based Solutions to mitigate the Climate Change impact. Click here to register for the event.

Investigadores de la ULPGC, de la Plataforma Oceánica de Canarias (PLOCAN) y del Centro GEOMAR Helmholtz de Investigación Oceánica de Kiel, participan en el Proyecto OceanNETS, un experimento en aguas costeras de Gran Canaria que investiga una solución para la eliminación a largo plazo de dióxido de carbono de la atmósfera con la ayuda del océano.
Researchers from the ULPGC, the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN) and the Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR), participate in the Project OceanNETS, an experiment in the coastal waters of Gran Canaria which studies a solution for the long term atmospheric CO2 removal with the help of the ocean.

El catedrático de Ecología e investigador del Instituto Universitario de Oceanografía y Cambio Global de la ULPGC, Javier Arístegui, ha sido designado nuevo director de la Cátedra Unesco de Gestión Ambiental y de los Recursos Marinos UNITWIN.
The ecology professor and researcher of the Oceanography and Global Change Institute (IOCAG) of the ULPGC, has been named as the new director of the UNESCO Chair in Environmental and Marine Resources Management UNITWIN.

In this recent study, led by Mr. Kai Shulz, researchers assess the interplay of suboxic upwelling and nitrogen cycling in a manipulative offshore mesocosm experiment. Results show that, in the coastal Peruvian upwelling system, denitrification is at least equally important for the loss of bioavailable N than vertical organic matter export.

El catedrático de ecología de la ULPGC dio una conferencia titulada "Una carrera contrarreloj frente al cambio climático. La importancia de la lucha contra el CO2" para inaugurar el curso "Descarbonizar Gran Canaria, una mirada multidisciplinar".
The ecology professor of the ULPGC gave a talk titled "A race against the clock facnig climate change. The importance of the fight against CO2" to open up the course "Decarbonize Gran Canaria, a multidisciplinary look".

El Grupo de Oceanografía Biológica participó en FIMAR 2021, la Feria Internacional del Mar que se celebró en Las Palmas de Gran Canaria entre el 2 y el 4 de julio, con la siguiente charla: "Estudio del fitoplancton en relación con el cambio climático: impactos y soluciones" (para ver nuestra contribución ve al minuto 1:02:00).
The Biological Oceanography Group will participated in FIMAR 2021, the International Sea Fair hosted in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria from the 2nd to the 4th of July, with the following talk: "Studying phytoplankton in relation to Climate Change: impacts and solutions" (go to minute 1:02:00 to watch our contribution).

In this paper they studied the circulation patterns in the confluence of the North Atlantic subtropical and tropical gyres delimited by the Cape Verde Front, during a field cruise in summer 2017. They collected hydrographic data, dissolved oxygen and inorganic nutrients along the perimeter of a closed box embracing the Cape Verde Frontal Zone. The detailed spatial distribution of water masses, O2 and inorganic nutrients in the Cape Verde Front was analyzed, allowing for the independent estimation of the transports of these properties in the subtropical and tropical domains down to 2000 m.

Via this first 'Call for Decade Actions', partners were invited to request endorsement under the Ocean Decade for transformative Decade Actions. More than 60 programmes and contributions have been endorsed, being JETZON one of them.
Jetzon is an international programme that acts as a coordinator and focal point for Twilight Zone studies. This programme has several linked projects, including Fluxes and e-IMPACT, which are coordinated by the Biological Oceanography Group, and SUMMER, where they participate quantifying vertical transport of dissolved organic matter associated to physical processes.

Federico baltar was a PhD student at the Biological Oceanography Group and he is now working at the University of Vienna as an Assistant Professor. In the interview he tells us about the research carried out at the Microbial Oceanography Lab at the Univeristy of Vienna and explains the latests findings about the role of fungi in the oceans. Furthermore, he explains the connection between ocean fungi and refractory organic matter, a currently unknown topic.

Mar Benavides was a PhD student at the Biological Oceanography Group and now she has her own research group called Ocean Bridges. In the interview she explains the main topic studied at her research group and describes the importance of the microorganisms she studies in the food chain and the biogeochemical cycles of the oceans.

Our researchers collaborated in this recently published article, where they revisit the concept of rDOC (refractory dissolved organic carbon) in terms of its "refractory" nature in order to understand its role in the global carbon cycle. They adress the problem of various definitions and approaches used to characterize rDOC such as turnover time in relation to the ocean transit time, molecule abundance, chemical composition and structure.

Márkel Gómez, PhD at the Biological Oceanography Group explains the aim of his research thesis and the importance of the study of these organisms.

Javier Arístegui participó en el programa de la Televisión Canaria para hablar de cambio climático. Puedes ver el programa completo aquí.
Javier Arístegui participated in the Canary Television program to talk about climate change. You can watch the full program here (full program in Spanish).

In the present study, the development and decay of a submesoscale front south of Gran Canaria Island is tracked at scales not considered in regular oceanographic samplings in order to analyze the picoplankton response to short-term variability. Our results suggest that both temporal and spatial variability may equally contribute to the total variance of picoplankton community in the mixed layer, while time is the principal contributor to total variance in the deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM).

Beatriz Fernández, postdoc student, explains the focus of her research in relation to ocean fertilization by Saharan dust episodes in the Canaries.⁣

Laura Marín, one of our PhD students, explains the main theme of her research within the European project OceanNETs.

PLOCAN presents a new video where they convey its vision, which highlights the importance of going beyond the conservation of our oceans to unite, recover, repair and learn about an ocean which generates equitable prosperity, offers renewable resources and solutions based on natural processes to successfully overcome the greatest challenges that humanity has faced.