This National Science Foundation (NSF) award under the Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050) provides $540,281 in funding to Old Dominion University Research Foundation (ODURF) to conduct collaborative research on the interactions between the ocean's iron and carbon cycles. The 3-year project, running from April 2025 to March 2028, aims to better characterize how organic carbon and iron-binding organic ligands mediate the "colloidal shunt" - a mechanism where dissolved iron forms aggregates with organic matter, sinking out of the upper ocean and impacting the biological carbon pump. The research will combine field observations from the Bermuda Atlantic Time-Series Study and Cape Verde Ocean Observatory regions with targeted experiments and ocean biogeochemical modeling. This work seeks to improve understanding of how climate-driven changes in ocean oxygenation could affect the colloidal shunt and the vertical export of iron and organic carbon. The project will also support the training of undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers, as well as outreach activities connecting rural K-12 and undergraduate students with the research.
Generated 2/25/25, 5:40 AM