Secrets of the Seas

Reliable evidence of climate change impacts from UK- managed observations

Governments worldwide need robust scientific data that can help inform their response to climate change. So the UK’s declaration at the 2010 Ministerial Summit in Beijing that it would allow the global community to share data gathered by the LWEC-accredited Continuous Plankton Recorder was hugely significant, both environmentally and politically.

First established 80 years ago, the Continuous Plankton Recorder assesses the abundance and distribution of microscopic plants (‘phytoplankton’) and animals (‘zooplankton’) in the North Atlantic and North Pacific, the Arctic and Southern Oceans, and elsewhere. It has shown that, over recent decades, some species have shifted as much as 1000km northwards, while some are appearing up to two months earlier in the year.

“By allowing natural variability to be taken out of the equation, the long-term body of data we’ve built up enables us to pinpoint the extent of the impact of global climate warming,” says Dr Martin Edwards of SAHFOS (the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science), which manages the survey. “At least 50% of the changes we’ve seen can’t be explained by natural climate variability”.

The plankton data has many other uses too, such as helping the development of fisheries policies at UK and EU level and providing information on the impact of pollution on marine ecology.

''The Continuous Plankton Recorder’s unique recordings are recognised by policy-makers as vital indicators of how our seas are changing,” says Beth Greenaway, Programme Manager at the UK Environmental Observation Framework. “Many nations want to set up similar surveys building on the skills of the staff at SAHFOS.''