Marine Climate

The prevailing physical and chemical conditions of the oceans and seas help to determine the structure and function of our marine ecosystems. Climate change is resulting in many changes in the marine environment, including warming sea temperatures, ocean acidification, deoxygenation, altered salinity and rising sea levels. For example, our research is helping to better understand the long-term change and seasonal variability in the UK coastal and shelf seas, and the connection with larger oceanic and atmospheric systems in the Atlantic and Arctic regions.

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Our long-term datasets include the sea temperature and salinity data records that contribute to the Cefas Coastal Temperature Network and the SmartBuoy and WaveNet ocean observing systems. We work with the UK’s Met Office Hadley Centre and National Oceanography Centre, to analyse past, current and future changes. These findings then inform government and decision-makers on the current state and rates of change in our seas, for example in the UK Marine Strategy assessment or the ICES Report on Ocean Climate.

Our research has uncovered long-term changes in water clarity in the North Sea, interactions between the physical structure of the water column and primary production, and change and variability in the deep and freshwater pathways between the Atlantic and Arctic We are developing innovative ways to generate crucial oceanographic data, for example through citizen science approaches.