Following the ocean swirls
The mathematics of dynamical systems reveals ocean dynamics, an understanding that could improve the monitoring of ocean processes.
Climate is an intimate dance between ocean and atmosphere. The oceans are a dark partner in this dance, though, much less understood than the air moving above them. Mathematical techniques from the study of dynamical systems are helping illuminate its movements.
The big question is just how much carbon dioxide the ocean absorbs. Though the precise value is unknown, what is known is that the ocean absorbs a lot, perhaps as much carbon as plants on land absorb. Climate scientists especially need to know whether that amount is going up, going down or staying the same.
Oceanographers understand the big picture pretty well: Great currents driven by wind and ocean mixing suck deep water from the North Atlantic southward toward Antarctica, where it rises to the surface and encounters open air. While in contact with the air, it exchanges carbon dioxide with the air before it is pumped back below the surface to return north.