1. Quantification of the Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) and water mass ventilation changes and their effect on the changes in the anthropogenic carbon uptake and storage capacity. The estimation of this variability is essential to evaluate the future scenarios of climate changes.

2. Evaluation of the impact of present CO2 emissions and past atmospheric CO2 concentrations in the production and preservation of CaCO3 in the North Atlantic as well as the potential impact of future ocean acidification in calcareous organisms (benthic foraminifera) by means of culture experiments.