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The United States Joint Global Ocean Flux Study
is a national component of international JGOFS and an integral part of global
climate change research. |
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U.S.
JGOFS: History and Mission
The U.S. JGOFS program, a component of the U.S Global Change Research
Program, grew out of the recommendations of a National Academy
of Sciences workshop in 1984. The international program, which
has more than 30 participating nations, began three years later
under the auspices of the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research
(SCOR). In 1989, JGOFS became a core program of the International
Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP).
JGOFS has two primary goals:
- To determine and understand on a global scale the processes
controlling the time-varying fluxes of carbon and associated biogenic
elements in the ocean and to evaluate the related exchanges with
the atmosphere, sea floor and continental boundaries;
- To develop a capability to predict on a global scale the response
of oceanic biogeochemical processes to anthropogenic perturbations,
in particular those related to climate change.
The strategy for addressing these goals has five major components:
- a global survey of oceanic CO2 and the bio-optical properties
of the surface ocean, coordinated with the World Ocean Circulation
Experiment (WOCE);
- long-term time-series observations at key oceanic sites;
- a series of studies of biogeochemical processes in parts of
the ocean that lend themselves to effective observation of particular
phenomena;
- the development of models to assimilate results, produce large-scale
descriptions and predict responses to future disturbances;
- the development of an accessible, comprehensive biogeochemical database.
A summary overview and
detailed description of the program are also available.
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