COMICS

Project Overview

COMICS investigated the processes controlling carbon storage in the ocean's twilight zone through field campaigns in contrasting environments: the productive waters around South Georgia and the Benguela upwelling system. The project combined ship-based measurements with autonomous platform observations to quantify particle formation, export, and remineralization.

We deployed gliders, sediment traps, and biogeochemical sensors to capture the full depth range of twilight zone processes. This work revealed significant vertical imbalances in carbon budgets, suggesting important missing transfer mechanisms that affect how efficiently carbon is sequestered in the deep ocean.

COMICS provided critical constraints on twilight zone biogeochemistry that inform global carbon cycle models and climate predictions.