1. Surface Ocean – Lower Atmosphere Study 2015-2025
Linking Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions with Climate and People
Emilie Brévière (SOLAS Executive Director) and Véronique Garçon (SOLAS Chairperson)
What is SOLAS?
What are Accomplishments of SOLAS?
International research initiative aiming at understanding the key biogeochemical-physical processes, interactions, and feedbacks between the ocean and atmosphere
Established in 2004 and today under the sponsorship of the Scientific
Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR), Future Earth, World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), and the International Commission on Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Pollution (iCACGP)
Network of over 2200 scientists from 70 countries
National representatives in 30 countries
Scientific Steering Committee with 17 members from 14 countries
International Project Office at GEOMAR in Kiel, Germany
First direct air-sea gas flux measurements over the ocean and advances in gas-transfer modelling
Synthesis of global ocean carbon datasets and improved estimates of global air-sea CO2 exchange
Insights into nutrient cycling in the ocean and revision of global biogeochemical budgets
Recognition of the contribution of marine gels to primary marine aerosols
Insights into iodine chemistry in the marine boundary layer and the limitations of ocean fertilization as a climate-change mitigation tool
Synthesis: see open-access book (Liss & Johnson 2014) and article in the Anthropocene journal (Brévière et al. 2015)
What are Scientific Topics of SOLAS ?
Five Core Themes point to the heart of what society needs to know if it is to make informed decisions on possible responses to changing ocean and
atmosphere. They will be analysed in integrated, system-based projects across the globe, as well as in laboratory and numerical modelling studies.
In addition, studies of the Core Themes are integrated in three Cross-Cutting Themes to advance understanding of environmental impacts, policy
options, and societal developments. Focal points, particularly promising for integrative studies, are upwelling systems, polar oceans, and coastal waters.
Core Theme 1
Core Theme 2
Core Theme 3
Core Theme 4
Core Theme 5
Greenhouse gases
and the oceans
Air-sea interface
and fluxes of
mass and energy
Atmospheric deposition
and ocean biogeochemistry
Interconnections between
aerosols, clouds, and
marine ecosystems
Ocean biogeochemical
control of
atmospheric chemistry
Environmental Impacts of Geoengineering
Science and Society
Integrated Topics: upwelling systems, polar oceans, and coastal waters
SOLAS Networks and Contributions
SOLAS Capacity Building and Outreach
Latin-American Ocean Acidification Network (LAOCA)
Global Ocean Oxygen Network (GO2NE)
SCOR WG#143 Dissolved N2O and CH4 measurements
SCOR WG#144 Microbial community responses to ocean deoxygenation
SCOR WG#149 Changing ocean biological systems (COBS)
SCOR WG#151 Iron model intercomparison project (FeMIP)
SCOR WG#152 Measuring essential climate variables in sea ice (ECV-Ice)
Biogeochemical Exchange Processes at Sea-Ice Interfaces (BEPSII)
GESAMP WG#38 Atmospheric input of chemicals to the ocean
GESAMP WG#41 Marine geoengineering
Future Earth Ocean Knowledge-Action Network
among many others
6 SOLAS Open Science Conferences welcomed over 1250 participants
6 International SOLAS Summer Schools trained over 420 young scientists
Over hundred e-bulletins provided relevant information
Several funded programmes, over hundred workshops, and several hundred publications contributed to international science
Get involved
SOLAS International Project Office
GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
Düsternbrooker Weg 20, Kiel, Germany
URL:
SOLAS research and the international project office are sponsored by:
Photo credit and poster design: Juergen Weichselgartner