CASIX, the Centre for observation of Air-Sea Interactions & fluXes, is a NERC Centre of Excellence in Earth Observation. The scientific focus was on advancing the science of air-sea interactions and reducing the errors in the prediction of climate change. The primary goal was to quantify accurately the global air-sea fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2). CASIX accelerated the exploitation of new Earth Observation satellite data to further the understanding of marine biogeochemistry in the Earth System. CASIX links NERC Centres, university groups and the Met Office to model ocean circulation and the ocean carbon cycle. This dataset collection contains global monthly primary production estimates derived using the Smyth et al 2005 model from SeaWiFS data.

CASIX, the Centre for observation of Air-Sea Interactions & fluXes, is a NERC Centre of Excellence in Earth Observation. The scientific focus was on advancing the science of air-sea interactions and reducing the errors in the prediction of climate change. The primary goal was to quantify accurately the global air-sea fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2). CASIX accelerated the exploitation of new Earth Observation satellite data to further the understanding of marine biogeochemistry in the Earth System. CASIX links NERC Centres, university groups and the Met Office to model ocean circulation and the ocean carbon cycle. This dataset contains global monthly primary production estimates derived using the Smyth et al 2005 model from SeaWiFS data.

MarQUEST was led by Prof Andrew Watson (UEA), with 15 co-investigators at UEA/BAS, the Universities of Southampton, Essex, and Reading, and from the Plymouth Marine Laboratory and Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory. This dataset collection contains ocean optical, chemical and plankton model measurements from SeaWiFS/SeaStar Level 3 products. MarQUEST developed new methods of validating ocean biogeochemistry models, making use of remote sensing ocean colour data, in situ data sets and ongoing observations from the major European programmes CarboOcean and EUR-OCEANS. In the past, ocean biogeochemical models represented biological processes in very simple or rigid ways (e.g., single nutrient limitation, a single generic primary producer), limiting understanding of the role of ecosystems in the climate system. Increasing the complexity of models has presented new challenges for their validation; it is also not clear what the ‘optimal’ complexity of a model should be for any given real-world problem. QUEST scientists cooperated in comparing various models, and examining more fundamental (physiological) approaches to understanding the planktonic ecoystem. MarQUEST also developed a module to simulate coastal ecosystems usable in global ocean biogeochemical simulations. Finally, the project team generated an accurate physical simulation of the North Atlantic guided by data assimilation, into which ecosystem simulations can be embedded. This allows the variation in air-sea fluxes of gases (CO2, oxygen and dimethyl sulphide) from ocean to atmosphere to be quantified for the contemporary period.

MarQUEST was led by Prof Andrew Watson (UEA), with 15 co-investigators at UEA/BAS, the Universities of Southampton, Essex, and Reading, and from the Plymouth Marine Laboratory and Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory. This dataset contains climatology and monthly measurements of phytoplankton Size Class from the SeaWiFS/SeaStar products. QUEST scientists cooperated in comparing various models, and examining more fundamental (physiological) approaches to understanding the planktonic ecoystem. MarQUEST also developed a module to simulate coastal ecosystems, usable in global ocean biogeochemical simulations. Finally, the project team generated an accurate physical simulation of the North Atlantic guided by data assimilation, into which ecosystem simulations can be embedded. This allows the variation in air-sea fluxes of gases (CO2, oxygen and dimethyl sulphide) from ocean to atmosphere to be quantified for the contemporary period. This data was produced by Takafumi Hirata, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Plymouth, UK as part of NERC Programmes: Centre for the observation of Air-Sea Interaction and fluXes (CASIX), National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) and Quantifying and Understanding the Earth System (QUEST).