Projects
Ongoing projects with PI Prof. Núria Casacuberta Arola
TITANICA
TITANICA aims to improve our understanding of AMOC on the basis of a new set of transient radionuclide tracers (129I, 236U, 39Ar and 14C), a quartet that will allow to study and constrain oceanographic processes on timescales of years to millennia. While the combination of the two nuclear reprocessing-derived 129I and 236U will investigate the shorter transport mechanisms (<100 y) of Atlantic waters in the AO and deep-water convection in the SPNA, the natural 39Ar and 14C will provide answers for the ventilation of intermediate and deep waters (>100 y). Newly available techniques will allow the implementation of 39Ar to unprecedented possibilities, closing the time gap between the artificial transient tracers (CFCs, SF6, 129I, 236U) and natural 14C. TITANICA goes beyond the state-of-the art as it combines cutting-edge analytical techniques (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry and Atom Trap Trace Analysis) with novel data analysis methods pioneered by the PI and supported by binary mixing models, transit time distributions, and regional ocean modeling. During the 5 years journey of TITANICA, two PhD students and two postdocs will join the PI embarking in a suit of ocean expeditions covering the Arctic Ocean, the SPNA and the subtropical Atlantic Ocean. The new data generated and the strong collaboration with European and International partners will combine with the PI unique expertise in this field, triggering a new era of transient tracers in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.
TRACEATLANTIC
The TRACEATLANTIC project aims at using two long-lived artificial radionuclides (129I and 236U) that in combination with other transient tracers (e.g. CFCs, SF6, 14C) are now emerging as new and groundbreaking tools to constrain the fate, pathways, circulation times, and mixing regimes of Atlantic waters in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans. This project will significantly improve our understanding of the ocean’s role in regulating Earth climate and complements the ERC TITANICA project by looking more closely to the areas of North Atlantic Deep Water formation (i.e. Labrador Sea, Irminger Sea) and the gates in and out the Arctic Ocean (i.e. Davis Strait and Fram Strait).
FUKUSHIMA REVIVAL
This is an ETH funded project that aims at doing an exhaustive independent study of ongoing FDNPP-derived radionuclides (i.e. 3H, 14C, 60Co, 106Ru, 137Cs, 90Sr and 129I) to the Pacific Ocean; understand their chemical and physical behavior within the different marine compartments; quantify their fate and accumulation and thus provide means to assess the potential radiological risk to biota. The project has three main goals: (i) study in detail a new and unexpected source of FDDNPP-derived radionuclides at brackish waters underneath sand beaches that was unraveled in 2016 by scientists from WHOI; (ii) set the benchmark values of radionuclides in the marine environment previous to the wastewater tank releases (2022); and (iii) perform an exhaustive monitoring of the radionuclide concentration in different marine compartments after the release of wastewater stored in tanks (2023 – 2025).