Governments around the world are developing action plans, drafting policies, and setting emission targets in a collective push to address the climate crisis. In keeping with these efforts, we must also turn our attention to nature’s most powerful carbon-absorbing tool: the ocean.

Sequestering more CO2 than all of the Earth’s rainforests combined, the ocean is the greatest carbon sink on the planet, absorbing 40% of fossil fuel emissions to date. Current climate policy frameworks assume the ocean will continue to absorb carbon at the same rate it does now, however, scientists are warning there is evidence that the mechanisms which enable the ocean to perform this critical function are changing. While the scope of the changes and rate at which it is happening are still unknown, the fact remains that these biogeochemical processes have the potential to fail. This variable could jeopardize the credibility of global climate targets and move us further from Canada’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

As a transnational hub for ocean research, the Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI) is bringing together experts from both sides of the North Atlantic to address this alarming information gap that has been described as “the most significant miscalculation of climate policy by nations”. Established in 2016 and led by Dalhousie University in partnership, with Memorial University, and the University of Prince Edward Island, OFI’s exceptional research teams are enhancing scientific understanding of our changing ocean and using the results to identify innovative solutions to complex ocean challenges.

As the deepest and most intense carbon sink in the world, the North Atlantic is particularly significant to the ocean carbon equation, accounting for roughly 30% of the total CO2 uptake in the ocean. OFI researchers are leading a project to deepen our understanding of how environmental conditions affect the Northwest Atlantic Biological Carbon Pump or BCP (the collective processes through which carbon is sequestered in the ocean), with the aim of improving decision-making around this key research area.

The evidence is mounting, both in the North Atlantic and beyond, that ocean carbon uptake is changing. In December 2021, a paper published in Nature Communications, co-authored by myself and a group of German colleagues, detailed evidence that melting sea ice can slow the biological carbon pump by as much as four months. In the Southern Ocean, there is data to suggest that this assumed sink might actually be releasing carbon back into the atmosphere, although more sampling is needed to reach a clear consensus on what is going on. The questions around ocean carbon are continuing to mount. What we need now are answers.

Building on our existing initiatives, Dalhousie and our partners are consolidating support for an ambitious solution to this critical climate policy gap: the creation of a North Atlantic Ocean Carbon Observatory (NACO). NACO would give researchers access to near real-time information on ocean carbon changes, which could then be shared with policy makers to ensure comprehensive climate calculations and targets.

Similar in concept to the International Space Station, the observatory would foster international collaboration and drive innovation by helping to create a scientific baseline which can be used to test the effectiveness of Ocean-Based Carbon Dioxide Removal technologies, while OFI’s link to the Global Ocean Observing System provides an ideal foundation for developing the observatory. NACO represents an unparalleled opportunity for Canada to establish the global exemplar in ocean carbon observing, and Dalhousie is uniquely positioned to lead the charge.