Bo Liu

Research focus

I want to better understand how marine biogeochemical processes interact with a changing climate across temporal and spatial scales, using Earth System Models (ESMs) as a primary tool.

State-of-the-art ESMs are typically validated only against observational data from the past few decades. This leaves open the question of whether ESMs can simulate long-timescale processes and feedbacks, such as natural marine carbon cycling and nutrient dynamics. The last deglaciation, beginning about 21,000 years ago, featured significant global warming and oceanic CO2 release, which contributed substantially to the atmospheric CO2 increase. To advance a mechanistic understanding of the ocean carbon cycle during this period, I improved the representation of global ocean biogeochemical processes in the ESM of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg (MPI-ESM). I also developed new components in the global ocean biogeochemistry model (HAMOCC), such as carbon isotopes, to enable direct comparison with marine sediment core records. I also collaborate closely with proxy-data experts and conduct multi-model comparisons to constrain mechanisms and assess the robustness of models’ findings.

My palaeo-ocean carbon cycle research has deepened our understanding of the natural carbon cycle and improved its representation in ESMs. Nevertheless, it has also revealed oversimplifications and limitations in representing marine ecosystems and element cycling. My ongoing research focuses on increasing the complexity of HAMOCC and incorporating missing biogeochemical feedbacks into the state-of-the-art ICON model.