Convex Seascape Survey: The secret powers of the ocean floor

The role of mangroves, seagrass and saltmarsh ecosystems to sequester and store carbon is increasingly recognised. But there is limited understanding of the dynamics of the carbon cycle across the global continental shelves. 

Our scientists have used historical data, eDNA analyses and modelling techniques to discover where seabed carbon comes from. We’ve mapped changes in ocean currents over the past 20,000 years to predict carbon hotspots on continental shelves, and completed the first full carbon budget model of the Patagonian shelf to help researchers understand the carbon exchange between the atmosphere, land, and ocean on continental shelves. 

Elsewhere, a fieldwork team in Jersey processed more than sixty seafloor core samples in a pop-up quayside laboratory to discover the composition of carbon in the seabed.

Our intrepid colleagues battled strong weather and tides to gather comparative data from protected vs unprotected seabed in Jersey and New Zealand’s Hauraki Gulf. This data helps us to understand how activities like trawling affect biodiversity and carbon stores, and how quickly these ecosystems recover from disturbance. We’ll be comparing the findings to previous data from Arran and will replicate this study at other sites in 2025.

The Survey has been developed in partnership by Blue Marine, University of Exeter, and Convex Group Ltd. It will deliver new, reliable, open-source data on continental-shelf carbon to educate, inspire, and enable informed decisions on ocean use. Around 100 experts from more than 20 institutions are collaborating to identify sediment carbon stores, understand how they form and how secure they are, and investigate how quickly they can recover from disturbance.