EPOC workshop on BGC sensors on the AMOC mooring array

Background

Transport mooring arrays have revolutionised our ability to monitor and understand how ocean circulation varies and functions, and how these dynamics influence climate across multiple timescales. Over the past two decades, there has been a huge international investment in observational infrastructure and technical expertise, creating long‑term mooring networks that now serve as one of the most powerful platforms for sustained ocean monitoring. While these arrays have already transformed our knowledge of circulation and its role in the climate system, we are only beginning to exploit their potential for biogeochemical investigations.

At the same time, biogeochemical sensing technologies are advancing rapidly, with some parameters already mature, opening-up new opportunities to observe the dynamics of carbon, nutrients, oxygen, and other variables in situ. By combining these sensors with circulation measurements, mooring arrays can help address some of the most pressing unknowns in global climate science: How is carbon being taken up, transported and stored by the ocean? How are ecosystems sustained by the lateral and vertical delivery of nutrients to the mixed layer? How do oxygen dynamics reveal ventilation and mixing processes, and what does this mean for deoxygenation trends? How will each of these respond to changing heat and freshwater fluxes, and projected circulation change?

Together, the existing infrastructure and emerging technologies provide a unique opportunity to link physical and biogeochemical perspectives, enabling us to tackle questions of carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, and ecosystem resilience in a changing climate.

With the AMOC and wider ocean science community convening in the UK for the 2026 Ocean Sciences Meeting, this workshop provides a timely opportunity to bring marine biogeochemists, physical oceanographers, and technical experts together. We aim to fostering dialogue across disciplines and career stages, sharing current best practice, identifying priority science questions, and develop strategies to capitalise on co‑located BGC and circulation measurements. The workshop will serve as a springboard for new collaborations and proposals, ensuring that the substantial investment in mooring infrastructure and sensor technology is fully leveraged to address some of the most critical unknowns in the global climate system.