# Collaborative Research: Interannual variability and connectivity of the oxygen supply to the deep ocean from the Labrador and Irminger Seas

> **NSF 01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT** · Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (MA) · $1,119,712

## Abstract

The primary goal of this project is to recover, calibrate, and analyze oxygen data from an array of moorings in the Labrador and Irminger Seas in the North Atlantic Ocean. The subpolar North Atlantic Ocean is important to global oxygen and carbon dioxide cycling as it has the largest water column inventories of anthropogenic, meaning human-produced, carbon in the world oceans. To date, observations have been too sparse to fully understand what controls dissolved gas pathways into the ocean interior in this region. The new oxygen observations will help characterize these pathways, will allow extrapolation from oxygen to carbon cycling, and will help examine the mechanisms that make surface waters sink and mix as they move into the deep ocean This project will advance our knowledge of how the uptake of oxygen and carbon by the ocean might be changing and how these changes are related to circulation changes in the North Atlantic Ocean that are key to regulating climatic conditions on the adjacent continents as well as globally.

The subpolar North Atlantic is known to be a globally significant gateway for carbon dioxide and oxygen into the deep ocean. At the same time, climate models are unable to reproduce the observed global patterns of oxygen change, hindered largely by a dearth of year-round oxygen observations that target pathways into the interior North Atlantic and their dynamics. This project seeks a better understanding of these ventilation pathways through the analys

## Key facts

- **NSF award ID:** 2446498
- **Awardee organization:** Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (MA)
- **SAM.gov UEI:** GFKFBWG2TV98
- **PI:** Isabela A Le Bras
- **Primary program:** 01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
- **All programs:** PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY, CHEMICAL OCEANOGRAPHY, INTERDISCIPLINARY PROPOSALS
- **Estimated total:** $1,119,712
- **Funds obligated:** $1,119,712
- **Transaction type:** Standard Grant
- **Period:** 08/15/2025 → 07/31/2028

## Primary source

NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2446498

## Citation

> US National Science Foundation, Award 2446498, Collaborative Research: Interannual variability and connectivity of the oxygen supply to the deep ocean from the Labrador and Irminger Seas. Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-07 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nsf/2446498. Licensed CC0.

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