Climate

Klimaat

CLIMATE

Climate is one of the core themes for VLIZ. Climate and the ocean are very much intertwined: the ocean drives global climate systems that make the planet habitable for humans. The ocean absorbs about 30% of emitted CO2 each year and has already captured 90% of excess heat.

However, global warming is putting pressure on the ocean. Thus, the ocean becomes more acidic, warmer and contains less oxygen.

One of the main threats of a warming climate, is the ever-faster rising sea level. According to predictions, by the end of this century, the sea level in our region could rise by one meter.

Given that the Belgian coastal zone is a densely populated, economically important, but above all low-lying region, it is therefore important to arm ourselves against this threat.

With its climate research, VLIZ aims to better understand the processes and interactions in a changing marine and coastal environment. Particular attention is given to investigating ocean biogeochemistry and the marine carbon cycle.

Projects

Sustainable Marine Ecosystem Services

The SUMES project aims to develop a model to assess the impact of human-induced changes on the ecosystem, its structure (e.g. biodiversity) and function (e.g. food chains, biogeochemistry), its capacity to provide marine ecosystems goods and services

Creating negative CO2 emissions via enhanced silicate weathering

This project will tackle the problem of climate stabilization by examining the feasibility of a innovative negative emission technology: enhanced silicate weathering (ESW) integrated into coastal zone management. The goal is to perform basic research

Climate curriculum


Climate is hot. Not only literally, but also within PlaneetZee - the educational website of the VLIZ. The sample lesson module on ocean climate issues got a new chapter on ocean acidification. Fast forward to www.planeetzee.be for more background information, experiments and workbooks!

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