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Oka Lab (Division of Climate System Research)
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The lab uses models to unravel the large currents of the deep ocean and long-term climate change.
AboutAbout the lab
Exploring long-term climate change through deep ocean circulation
The Oka Lab studies climate change over long timescales, both what has happened in the past and what could happen in the future.
The ocean plays a major role in climate variability longer than several decades. In particular, circulation that includes the deep ocean affects the climate of the entire Earth over timescales of more than a thousand years.
The lab reproduces this deep ocean circulation with climate models and ocean models, aiming to clarify the mechanisms behind its stability and variability.
The lab also investigates the relationship between deep ocean circulation and the distribution of substances such as carbon in the deep ocean.
Key terms
- Deep ocean circulation
- The global-scale circulation of seawater, including the deep ocean. It takes more than a thousand years to travel around the world's oceans.
- Climate model
- A computer program that reproduces climate by calculating the motions of the atmosphere and ocean based on the laws of physics.
- Last Glacial Period
- The period, lasting until about 10,000 years ago, when the Earth was cold and ice sheets were widespread.
ResearchResearch themes
The lab focuses on climate change over long timescales, both what has happened in the past and what could happen in the future. Using climate models and ocean models to reproduce deep ocean circulation, it investigates the mechanisms of the circulation's stability and variability, as well as its relationship to the distribution of substances such as carbon in the deep ocean.
*Illustrative imageDeep Ocean Circulation
The lab investigates how freshwater inflow and outflow at high latitudes (the atmospheric water cycle, river discharge, and oceanic salinity transport) affects deep water formation. It also studies multidecadal variability in deep water formation, the stability of past and future circulation, and the role of tidal mixing in the deep circulation of the Pacific.
*Illustrative imageOcean Carbon and Material Cycles
The lab investigates the processes by which carbon and nutrients are transported to the deep ocean. It also works on reproducing, with models, the distribution of trace elements such as rare earth elements and zinc.
*Illustrative imagePast Ocean Variability
The lab studies the deep circulation of the Atlantic and the ocean carbon cycle during the Last Glacial Period. It also uses models to reproduce proxies that record past ocean circulation, such as carbon isotope ratios and neodymium isotope ratios.
MembersFaculty
- Associate ProfessorOka AkiraPublications ↗
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images.
- Top image: “Deciphering the Maud Rise Polynya in normal color” NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS/LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. Story by Kathryn Hansen. / Public domain (cropped)
- Deep Ocean Circulation: “Perpetual ocean2 beauty hw5x3.00192” NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio (Greh Shirah. Horace Mitchell, Laurence Schuler, Ian Jones, Atousa Saberi, Josh Willis, Kathleen Gaeta) / Public domain (cropped)
- Ocean Carbon and Material Cycles: “Coccolithophore Bloom Southwest of Ireland ( )” NASA Goddard Space Flight Center from Greenbelt, MD, USA / Public domain (cropped)
- Past Ocean Variability: “Icecore 4” Photo by Lonnie Thompson, Byrd Polar Research Center, Ohio State University. / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Hasumi Lab): “Perpetual Ocean - Gulf Stream ( )” NASA Goddard Space Flight Center from Greenbelt, MD, USA / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Watanabe Lab): “Blue Marble Western Hemisphere” NASA / Reto Stöckli / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Yoshimori Lab): “Mosaic of the Arctic” NASA / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Oka Lab (Ocean General Circulation Research Group)): “Spring Bloom Colors the Pacific Near Hokkaido” Norman Kuring / Public domain (cropped)
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