Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/P020135/1
Ocean-Colour Data in Climate studies
Training Grant Award
- Lead Supervisor:
- Dr MLP Racault, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Remote Sensing Group
- Grant held at:
- Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Remote Sensing Group
- Science Area:
- Earth
- Marine
- Overall Classification:
- Marine
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Pollution and Waste
- Science Topics:
- Climate & Climate Change
- Remote sensing
- Biogeochemical Cycles
- Primary production
- Ecosystem Scale Processes
- Ecosystem management
- Survey & Monitoring
- Optical remote sensing
- Technol. for Environ. Appl.
- Remote sensing
- Abstract:
- Ocean colour represents one of the most important biological datasets that we can derive from space. These remotelysensed measurements provide an index of the concentration of microscopic marine algae, phytoplankton. Located at the base of the marine food web, phytoplankton supports global marine ecosystems, including commercially important fish species. Present in every coastal and open ocean of the world, phytoplankton produce 50% of the oxygen we breathe, are responsible for 25% of the uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide and influences the Earth's climate. Ocean-colour data provide many and varied societal benefits, contributing to water-quality and carbon monitoring, fisheries management, ecosystem state and climate impacts assessment. Ocean colour is also increasingly used in operational oceanography. The NERC Earth Observation Data Acquisition and Analysis Service (NEODAAS) that is hosted at PML has registered, on average, ~300 users each year since 2008. Within the last three years, the service provided remote-sensing observations (including ocean colour) to 11 projects funded through NERC Grants and 18 projects funded through NERC (Centres, National Capability, and PhD studentships). The proposed training course aims to provide PhD students and early career researchers with a fundamental understanding of ocean-colour data and its associated applications. The course will be composed of a combination of lectures and computer-based practicals, delivered over five days by PML ocean-colour experts. The PML remote-sensing group is the largest marine science Earth Observation (EO) group in the UK. In addition to its international recognition for operational and research expertise, the group also has strong teaching experience from previously delivered remotesensing teaching courses and from the development of on-line EO educational resources. During the course, students will have the opportunity to work with ocean-colour data from the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative, which provides the most complete, stable, and error-characterized time-series of multi-sensor global satellite data products for climate research and modelling. Students will acquire the statistical methods for handling, visualising, analysing and interpreting the large ocean-colour datasets and for working with their associated uncertainties. They will be exposed to state-of-the-art modelling tools to compute some of the key applications of ocean colour and to interpret the data in the context of climate research. Students will also have the opportunity to visit the NEODAAS facility and to learn about data information, management and processing techniques. The link to end-users of research will be facilitated by the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO), a consortium of oceanographic institutes worldwide that share a common goal to advance the implementation of a sustained global ocean observing system for the benefit of society. POGO has a strong track record in the provision of training in observational oceanography for young scientists. POGO also works closely with the International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) Project Office of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO. The training initiative will be able to support 20 attendees and funds are requested for 20 places. Furthermore, to maximise the impact of the course, teaching materials will be made available via the IODE web repository; and videoconferencing links will be established to other institutes around the world so that other students could benefit from the training.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/P020135/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Doctoral Training
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Advanced Training
This training grant award has a total value of £41,067
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Other Costs |
|---|
| £41,067 |
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