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Professor Queirós on unlocking the secrets of the Orkney kelp forests

5 March 2024

Watch the new film featuring PML’s Professor Ana M Queirós and Thomas Mesher, who talk alongside colleagues from Heriot-Watt University and the Blue Marine Foundation about the magnificent underwater kelp forests situated around the Orkney in Scotland, and their investigations into how kelp from these forests moves carbon from the ocean to the seafloor. 
PML’s Professor Ana M Queirós

Our Professor Ana M Queirós is leading the exciting scientific mission to try to understand how kelp ‘fixes’ carbon from the atmosphere, and where that carbon ends up. She says, “with the hope that, in the future, we can protect that carbon – and help fight climate change.” 

“We chose Orkney for this project because we have this beautiful combination of very pristine and extensive kelp habitat in combination with the grassroots support for the protection of ocean carbon, what we call blue carbon.” 

“So, very much like trees in the autumn that shed their leaves, the kelp loses its material throughout the year, so the kelp doesn’t actually hold the carbon for very long. So we need to find out where that carbon ends up, where the kelp carbon flows into the ocean and the sea floor, so that we can protect it for the long term.” 

Watch the new film featuring the team of scientists in the field, working to increase understanding of kelps involvement in the ocean carbon cycle and the value of protecting our kelp forests.  

Watch on YouTube here:



Thank you to Parley TV for their continued support with this project.  
Related categories
Air-sea gas exchange Biodiversity Blue carbon Cleaner seas Marine Ecology and Biodiversity People