07/24/2020
10:30 am - 11:30 am
Event Type
This virtual event is FREE to attend, however, space is limited and registration is required. Please visit dmc.umaine.edu/science-seminar-series to register.
Dr. Margaret Estapa
Assistant Professor of Geosciences, Skidmore College
Assistant Professor of Chemical Oceanography, University of Maine,
Darling Marine Center
The global ocean acts as a “sponge” for atmospheric carbon dioxide, including human emissions. One of the processes that allow this is called the biological carbon pump, which starts when tiny single-celled, plant-like organisms grow and absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis. When these organisms die or get eaten, some of that carbon stays in the ocean and sinks into deeper water. Over long periods of time this transfer keeps carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. However, scientists are still working out which organisms are the most important, and how they might react as the ocean warms, becomes more acidic and loses its wintertime sea ice cover. Will ocean biology keep contributing to ocean carbon uptake in the future? Since
2017, Dr. Estapa has been part of NASA study that is exploring these links through a series of expeditions at sea. She will talk about the clues her team has discovered in the North Pacific, and the questions they hope to answer closer to home, in the North Atlantic.
