The ocean plays a central role in the global carbon cycle. Ocean water can absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sequester it at depth for hundreds or thousands of years. In fact, it is estimated that the deep ocean contains a massive reservoir of carbon, which dwarfs all other reservoirs combined (including vegetation, soil
Deep ocean water contains a very large reservoir of carbon, and so understanding how this water moves and mixes over time is essential for all climate models. Over the last few decades, observations have shown that passive tracers initially located in the deep ocean have gradually resurfaced, suggesting that there are pathways through which deep
Numerical modelling is a key tool for understanding deep ocean dynamics, where observations remain sparse, particularly at submesoscales (1–30 km). Jonathan Gula, from the Laboratoire d’Océanographie Physique et Spatiale, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, uses high-resolution basin-scale and regional simulations to investigate how interactions between currents, topography, and mixing shape abyssal circulation and tracer transport. During
To ensure that the carbon dioxide captured during industrial processes is safely stored underground, it is essential to have a detailed understanding of the different mechanisms by which CO2 is trapped in geological aquifers. PhD student Ross Shepherd has been studying the long-term, post-injection fate of carbon dioxide in deep aquifers. During today’s seminar,
During the second part of today’s seminar, PhD student Ruiyang Wang discussed the results of his recent laboratory experiments on the dissolution of capillary-trapped CO2 in the subsurface. As CO2 is captured and injected into an aquifer, some of it migrates towards topographic highs within the aquifer, while some is trapped in the pore spaces
During the first part of today’s seminar, PhD student Haihan Li presented some of the most recent results of his work on bubble plumes in electrolysis. In electrolysis cells, hydrogen and oxygen bubbles are nucleated and grow on the surface of the electrodes, until they detach from the surface and rise through the surrounding fluid,
Lake Kivu is located on the border of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, along the western branch of the East African Rift, a region of active volcanism and high seismicity. The lake deep waters contain nearly 60 cubic km of methane and over 300 cubic km of carbon dioxide. The methane can be extracted
Wind energy supplied approximately 30% of UK electricity in 2025, underscoring its central role in the energy transition. Tidal power, though still at the demonstration stage, has the potential to meet up to 11% of annual UK electricity demand. However, key fluid dynamic challenges continue to limit the performance, scalability, and environmental acceptability of turbine
Constraining the key controls on ice melting in glaciers and the ocean is essential for climate models. Edoardo Bellincioni is a PhD student, currently working in the Physics of Fluids group at the University of Twente under the supervision of Sander Husiman and Detlef Lohse. During his PhD, Edoardo has been running laboratory experiments to
The surface of old paintings often exhibits a series of cracks, reminiscent of the cracks which develop on parched ground during a drought. In both cases, the cracks develop over time as a result of surface desiccation. In fact, the evaporation of the solvent from a film of a colloidal suspension induces the formation of