Convex Seascape Survey

What impact does the ocean have on climate change? It is one of the great unsolved scientific questions of our time. The seascape is the ultimate sink for carbon emissions, and could be an immense ally in efforts to slow runaway climate change. The role of mangroves, seagrass and saltmarsh ecosystems to sequester and store carbon is increasingly recognised. But there is limited understanding of the dynamics of the carbon cycle across the global continental shelves.  

The Convex Seascape Survey is a pioneering global research project, developed in partnership by Blue Marine Foundation (Blue Marine), University of Exeter, and Convex Group Ltd. Now, two years into its five-year lifespan, , 100 of the world’s leading experts are investigating, modelling and quantifying carbon storage in vast coastal seas around the globe whose carbon capacity is currently unknown. Their work will generate critical data and insight into how to manage the ocean sustainably to maximise its carbon-storage capabilities.   

The project will deliver new, reliable, open-source data on continental-shelf carbon that will educate, inspire, and enable informed decisions on ocean use. The survey is addressing questions such as: Where are the biggest stores of carbon in shelf seas? How and when did they get there? What role do life and biodiversity play in these stores? And how does past and present human activity affect seascape carbon? And putting all this accurately into global carbon budgets for the very first time. 

 Alongside scientific research, the project is delivering a programme of communication and education to raise awareness of how ocean health is linked to the climate. A key aim is to engage young people, the public, governments and decision-makers with the value of ocean carbon and the urgent need to protect it to limit global temperature rises. Gathering accurate data to quantify the extent to which healthy seascapes thriving with life can absorb carbon has never been more crucial.  

Find out about the first two years of the project by clicking the picture below.