Send message to Authors

Short abstract:

Our ocean’s role as carbon sink requires marine carbon observations for predicting its future capacity. Employing STS approaches, this study delves into complexities of marine carbon observations, emphasizing human, non-human and geopolitical agencies to provide insights into their (de)stabilization

Long abstract:

Our ocean plays an important role as a carbon sink. To predict our ocean’s future capability of storing anthropogenic emissions and to calculate climate change scenarios, marine carbon observations are crucial. They require cross-sectoral collaboration of science, the private sector (e.g., shipping companies, sensor manufacturers) and non-humans.

Yet, empirical research on environmental degradation and climate change using approaches of Science and Technology Studies (STS) and new materialism are still dominated by terrestrial case studies lacking empirical insights from marine worlds. Moreover, the material embeddedness of research phenomena in marine realms, such as geo-political processes, remain overseen in scientific discourses so far. However, we know little about the knowledge-production processes and the actual practices within marine carbon observations.

The paper examines how and under which conditions marine carbon observations emerge and asks: How are they stabilized and destabilized and which role do geo-political entanglements play? Conceptually and methodologically, the study addresses these questions based on multi-sited ethnography, STS approaches and multi-modal materials including participant observation and semi-structured interviews with marine scientists and technicians working on marine carbon observations.