The project “RECLESS – Recycling versus loss in the marine nitrogen cycle: controls, feedbacks, and the impact of expanding low oxygen regions” has received 9.9 million euros in funding from the ERC. In this project, Katharina Kitzinger, Senior Scientist at the University of Vienna and CoE Key Researcher, will work alongside researchers from Denmark, Sweden, and the US to elucidate how tiny microbes’ activity in the ocean’s oxygen-depleted waters impacts the global climate.
Marine oxygen-depleted zones account for just 0.1% of the ocean’s volume. Yet, they have a large impact on the ocean’s health and its greenhouse gas emissions. While fish cannot survive in oxygen-depleted waters, microbes thrive and ‘breathe’ nitrogen compounds instead of oxygen. Part of their activity causes nitrous oxide emissions, a highly potent greenhouse gas contributing to global warming. By identifying key microbial players, studying their responses to environmental conditions, and building the first global microbial ecosystem model for oxygen-depleted marine regions, RECLESS will transform our understanding of nitrogen cycling in the ocean.
Figure 1: Oxygen distribution at 200 m depth, black dots show coastal regions that experience oxygen depletion (generated using E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information doi: 10.48670/moi-00019)
Figure 2:Trace oxygen profiler offering high resolution and a lower detection limit than currently available oxygen sensors; this unit will be used at all RECLESS field sites allowing us to elucidate oxygen dynamics in these regions to a detail never seen before. Credit: Alex Ingle / Schmidt Ocean Institute
Congratulations to Kathi and the whole team. We wish you the best of luck and are excited to learn about your findings!