Outputs

As the project progresses, key outputs from the programme will be collated here.

Ocean Sciences Glasgow 2026

Abstracts for Presentation and Poster sessions

Scientific publications

Williams R., Brown P., Takano Y., Forget G., Jones D., Katavouta A., Mcdonagh E., Roussenov V.. The biogeochemical transport by the Gulf Stream. Commun Earth Environ. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-03118-y

Summary

It is well documented that the Gulf Stream plays a pivotal role in the climate system through its transfer of heat, which ultimately supplies warmth to northern latitudes in the North Atlantic. What remains less well understood is how the Gulf Stream influences the climate system by transporting nutrients and carbon. These materials stimulate plankton growth, which in turn play a vital role in naturally absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The North Atlantic is one of the most effective locations in the global ocean for carbon uptake, accounting for 23% of the global air-sea carbon uptake, despite only accounting for 11% of the surface area. Understanding what drives this ocean carbon uptake could have major impacts for the planet and how effective the natural carbon cycle will be in curbing the ongoing rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

The article sets out the view that the Gulf Stream affects the carbon cycle in two different ways. Firstly, the Gulf Stream carries sub-surface waters northwards that have high concentrations of nutrients, which allow plankton to grow and draw down carbon from the atmosphere when those waters reach the surface further to the north. Secondly, these nutrient-rich waters carried by the Gulf Stream were last in contact with the atmosphere many decades ago, and have the capacity to take up additional carbon when they reach the sea surface due to the ongoing rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide. This viewpoint is supported by analyses of historical data and experiments with ocean circulation models.

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Piecuch, C. G., & Beal, L. M. (2023). Robust Weakening of the Gulf Stream During the Past Four Decades Observed in the Florida Straits. Geophysical Research Letters, 50(18). https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL105170 

Summary

The Gulf Stream is a major ocean current located off the East Coast of the United States. It carries a tremendous amount of seawater and along with it heat, carbon, and other ocean constituents. Because of this, the Gulf Stream plays an important role in weather and climate, influencing phenomena as seemingly unrelated as sea level along coastal Florida and temperature and precipitation over continental Europe. Given how important this ocean current is to science and society, scientists have tried to determine whether the Gulf Stream has undergone significant changes under global warming, but so far, they have not reached a firm conclusion. Here we report our effort to synthesize available Gulf Stream observations from the Florida Straits near Miami, and to assess whether and how the Gulf Stream transport there has changed since 1982. We conclude with a high degree of confidence that Gulf Stream transport has indeed slowed by about 4% in the past 40 years, the first conclusive, unambiguous observational evidence that this ocean current has undergone significant change in the recent past. Future studies should try to identify the cause of this change.

Data sets

New observational data will be accessible when available at the British Oceanographic Data Centre

Raw float data are available from various sources: 

https://fleetmonitoring.euro-argo.eu

https://argovis.colorado.edu

https://www.ocean-ops.org