E-mail Announcements

Subject: Ocean Sciences - Biogeochemical cycles of trace elements

Dear JGOFS Colleagues,
This is to invite you to participate in a special session at the Ocean Sciences meeting in Portland (26-30 January, 2004) on the biogeochemical cycles of trace elements (deadline for electronic submission of abstracts is 16 October, 2003; see http://www.agu.org/meetings/os04/ for more information).

This session is one of a series being convened to provide community input to the planning of GEOTRACES, a program designed to study the sources, sinks, and internal cycling of trace elements in the ocean. SCOR has recently accepted oversight of the GEOTRACES planning effort, and we hope that this program will eventually fulfill many of the objectives within Theme 1 of the IGBP-IMBER (Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research) program.

We believe that many who participated in JGOFS research will find an interest in GEOTRACES, and we encourage those who do to join us at Ocean Sciences. Best wishes on behalf of the GEOTRACES Planning Group, Bob Anderson OS 13 Modern and paleo-applications of trace elements and their isotopes in oceanography

Conveners:
Gideon Henderson (Oxford University, UK gideonh@earth.ox.ac.uk)
Martin Frank (ETH, Switzerland, frank@erdw.ethz.ch
Catherine Jeandel (Toulouse, France, Catherine.jeandel@notos.cst.cnes.fr)
Bob Anderson (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, USA, boba@ldeo.columbia.edu)

Measurements of trace elements, together with stable and radioactive isotopes, have found widespread use in oceanography to investigate processes such as:
1) removal of dissolved substances from seawater by scavenging;
2) mixing processes and ocean circulation, both in modern and ancient oceans;
3) micronutrient limitation of bioproductivity;
4) modern and paleo fluxes of water-column particulate material including carbon;
5) assessing the locations and fluxes of chemical inputs to the ocean;
6) constructing realistic models of the above and related processes.

The goal of this special session is the presentation of recent advances in the understanding of these tracers and their biogeochemical cycling, together with improvements in sampling protocols and analytical techniques. We invite presentations in all aspects of the measurement and use of trace elements and isotopes in sea water. Particularly welcome are: new results on the biogeochemical cycles of key micronutrient trace elements; results which help to refine or groundtruth geochemical proxies of the past environment; and new insights into the sources and fates of pollutants in seawater and at ocean margins. These areas also form the major aims of an international initiative for a coordinated global study of marine geochemistry entitled GEOTRACES (previously GEOSECSII). This session at the Ocean Sciences meeting will help to continue the process of defining this programme. -- Robert Anderson Geochemistry Building Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory 61 Route 9W (Street Address for deliveries) P.O. Box 1000 (postal address) Palisades, NY 10964 Office: (845) 365-8508 Fax: (845) 365-8155

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