PhD position: “Particulate carbon and nutrient cycling and its environmental drivers (NoSE project)”

THE NORTH SEA-ATLANTIC EXCHANGE (NoSE) PROJECT

The North Sea is a highly productive and heavily exploited continental shelf sea that absorbs significant quantities of atmospheric CO2. But the fate of absorbed CO2 is highly uncertain, in particular the balance between outflow into the Atlantic Ocean and burial in sediments, so we cannot accurately project how this may change in the future. In the NoSE project, a multidisciplinary consortium of researchers (from NIOZ, Delft University of Technology, University of Groningen, Utrecht University, and several international partners) will determine the past, present and future role of the North Sea within the wider biogeochemical system of the Atlantic Ocean. Focusing on the Norwegian Trench, which is both the main outflow route to the Atlantic Ocean and the main place where sediments accumulate within the North Sea, we will investigate the transport and conversion processes that regulate carbon and nutrient exchange between the land, shelf sea and open ocean through a combination of oceanographic research expeditions and computer modelling. By linking these results to the palaeo record from seafloor sediments, NoSE will reveal new insights into how the cycling of carbon and nutrients in the North Sea and their exchange with the Atlantic Ocean have varied over the past thousands of years and how they may continue to evolve in the future.

THE POSITION

This PhD position focuses on the water-column processes that determine the composition (e.g., carbon content, nutrients, trace metals) and fate of particulate matter in waters of the North Sea and North Atlantic Ocean. You will determine the quantity, quality and origin of (organic) matter and study biological parameters of the natural phytoplankton community, including size distribution and taxonomic composition. Long‐term (>1 year) seasonal variability in matter fluxes will be studied with moored observatories equipped with sediment traps. Fluxes will be correlated to physical parameters such as current speed and turbidity to determine temporal variability and the occurrence of event‐driven matter transport. Bioassays will be carried out to determine what nutrient is limiting phytoplankton growth and thus, carbon uptake. Samples and data will be collected during multiple scientific research cruises. The project is strongly connected to NoSE projects focusing on water-column and seafloor carbon and nutrient cycling and long-term sediment burial, so you will function in a team environment and benefit from support and advice from colleagues with a range of backgrounds in Earth sciences.