Research areas
Research areas
The ocean floor is a highly dynamic interface and plays a key role in the Earth and climate system. The cluster focuses on the following central questions:
How do biogenic particles change on their way to the ocean floor? The processes that shape their composition and their
influence on the biological carbon pump are being investigated.How are carbon and other elements distributed in the ocean?
Lateral transport between the shelf and the open ocean is quantified – both under current conditions and in retrospect to earlier states of the Earth system.How are biodiversity and biogeochemical processes linked? The interactions between ecological communities and material
cycles under changing environmental conditions are analysed.What can be deduced for the future from past warm periods?
The reconstruction of earlier environmental and biodiversity signals provides scientifically sound scenarios for a warmer world.
These objectives are pursued in four interrelated areas of research:
RECEIVER examines the ocean floor from the perspective of the water column. It investigates how matter is distributed between the shelf and the open ocean, transported to the sea floor and chemically and biologically altered in the process. Phase II focuses on carbon sequestration processes and element and energy flows.
REACTOR investigates geochemical and biogeochemical processes on and in the ocean floor. This includes microbial and animal communities that shape these reactions, as well as material exchange processes between the seafloor and the ocean. Phase II focuses on the dynamics of hydrothermal systems and sediment basins and their significance for ocean acidification. It also investigates how material flows at vents and seep sites influence the carbon pump and how benthic ecosystems respond to changing environmental conditions.
RECORDER uses marine sediments as climate and ecosystem archives. By analysing proxy data, interactions between physical climate processes, disturbances and marine ecosystems are reconstructed. The aim is to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms and dynamics of the climate system. Phase II focuses in particular on the carbon pump under warm climate conditions, the development of marine biodiversity in a warmer world, climate drivers, feedbacks, threshold processes and the dependence of climate variability on the background climate.
The newly established SYNTHESIS HUB bundles and integrates multidisciplinary data and model results and strengthens exchange with the international research community. By applying established and developing novel synthesis approaches, the SYNTHESIS HUB generates universally valid knowledge about the past and present state, dynamics and changes in the conditions, processes and biodiversity of the seabed. In addition, method-oriented projects within the hub develop new tools for cross-scale and multivariate synthesis. The SYNTHESIS HUB forms the central platform for synthesis products and knowledge transfer.