The world’s most impactful ocean research team
The Transforming Climate Action program brings together more than 170 researchers spanning academic disciplines, provinces, and languages. With the support of more than 40 national and international private and public sector partners and deep institutional connections with Indigenous peoples and communities in Atlantic Canada and Quebec we are uniquely prepared to bring a collective approach to climate action.
Global leadership at the ocean-climate nexus
We need to understand how energy, gases and particles are exchanged between the atmosphere and the ocean. It’s not a simple process and it can go in both directions. There are layers on top of the ocean that prevent gases from absorbing, there are waves, there are storms, there is sea spray, they can all have an impact. And the ultimate question is, how do they affect climate?
New currents of Arctic water spark concern
The profound, climate-driven transformation of the Arctic can radically alter CO2 balance in downstream oceanic regions. It is crucial to understand how changing deliveries of meltwater, nutrients and organic matter in the western North Atlantic impact carbon fluxes regionally and globally.
A sea change on the seafloor
Changes in the export of organic matter to the seafloor due to global changes will impact food webs and benthic ecosystems where 98 per cent of the ocean's biodiversity can be found. The seafloor is the largest habitat on the planet, and benthic organisms play a key role in global carbon budgets.
Enhancing the ocean’s ability to thwart climate change
There is a strong argument for looking at the ocean for carbon dioxide removal. Its capacity is enormous and, because the processes may correct the acidification of the ocean that we’ve already caused, there is cautious optimism. But we need to fully understand the implications and impacts before we move forward.
Ocean-based carbon removal an essential
Climate change has been changing weather patterns, disrupting the normal balance of our nature and posing many risks to human beings and all other forms of life on Earth. Conducting ocean-based carbon dioxide removal thus becomes essential to our communities and all Canadians.
Ensuring the science is safe
There is a massive amount of literature on acidifying the ocean, and its damaging impact. But there is a surprisingly small amount of literature on raising pH with alkaline substances and its effect on phytoplankton growth. We want to know if they can accommodate a rise in pH, or will they actually be harmed by it.
Realistic solutions to mitigate big impacts
The coastal communities that make their livelihood off the ocean feel the impacts of climate change every day. This project can not only mitigate these impacts but also result in an overall healthier ocean.
Climate-migration an opportunity for Canadian leadership
We’ve made no progress dealing with the climate-induced migration that promises to displace people at a scale of magnitude that far exceeds anything we have seen before. Future challenges require a better understanding of the changes taking place in the climate and ocean so the global community can respond.
Empowering a new generation to take environmental action
There is an urgent need for empirical research across the country to better understand the perspectives, needs and concerns of young citizens and teachers on climate-ocean interface issues and for these to be truly part of the solution.
Making space for the ocean
We need to be coastal in a different way. We have to make some tough decisions together about where we can defend, where we should defend, and where we should actually pull back and leave space for ocean dynamism.
Linking different forms of knowledge
Climate change, with its biophysical, social, economic and political impacts, is no longer to be considered only as a technical problem. It is also an issue requiring adaptive and creative responses and strategies that involve consideration of different forms of knowledge and the cultural dimension of societies.
