35 Minutes ¾ October 16-18, 2001
U.S. JGOFS Scientific Steering Committee Meeting
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA
Attendees
Scientific Steering
Committee Members: M. Abbott (chairman), R. Anderson, W. Berelson, M.E. Carr,
M. Follows, G. Jackson, C. Lee, M. Lewis, D. McGillicuddy, J. Sarmiento, R.
Wanninkhof
Time-series programs: A.
Knap, M. Lomas, BATS; J. Dore, D. Karl, HOT
U.S. JGOFS Planning office: M. Bowles, K. Buesseler, C. Chandler, D. Glover, G. Heimerdinger, D. Schneider, M. Zawoysky
JGOFS International Project
Office: R. Hanson
National Science Foundation:
P. Taylor, J. Yoder
Guests: Christine Hammond, WHOI; Joan Kleypas, National Center for Atmospheric Research; Raymond Najjar, Pennsylvania State University; Deborah Steinberg, Virginia Institute of Marine Science; Daniela Turk, CLIVAR International Program Office
35.1 Introduction
Chairman Mark Abbott welcomed members of the U.S. JGOFS
Scientific Steering Committee (SSC), planning office staff and guests to the
meeting and announced that data management and future ocean biogeochemistry
programs would be the major topics of this session. Before getting started on
the scheduled agenda, the SSC held an informal discussion about future
prospects for large-scale, coordinated ocean carbon programs. Cindy Lee
reported on the composition and activities of the National Science Foundation
(NSF) Ocean Carbon Cycle Research committee that she heads. Roger Hanson from
the JGOFS office in Bergen mentioned a planning meeting for future ocean
biogeochemical research that is to be held in Spain in early December under the
auspices of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and the
Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR). He noted the difficulties of
attracting the funding agencies to the programs emerging from international
planning efforts.
35.2 Time-Series: HOT Report
David Karl presented a report on the status of the Hawaii
Ocean Time-series (HOT) program. Funding for HOT is currently provided through
a two-year "creativity award" that runs from 9/01 to 8/03. Support
for the HALE ALOHA mooring ran out in 2000. The plan for the future is to
submit a five-year (or longer) proposal to NSF or some other sponsor in August
2002.
All monthly cruises in 2001 have been carried out aboard
R/V Kaimiki-0-Kanaloa (KOK), as will
be the first six cruises of 2002. In the latter part of the year, two cruises
are scheduled on R/V Wecoma and two
on the new AGOR 26 SWATH vessel, R/V Kilo
Moana, which is to be launched in November 2001 and to go into service in
July 2002. Two are as yet unscheduled.
Dave listed new HOT projects for 2001-03. They included
fast repetition-rate fluorometer and P vs E experiments, nitrogen-15 abundance
measurements and tracer experiments, oxygen balance measurements, hydrogen
peroxide production and consumption measurements, and vitamin ecology
(prokaryotes make vitamins; eukaryotes need them). He also reviewed the set of
assumptions with which HOT began in 1988 and the new biogeochemical and
ecological paradigms that are emerging. These include new ideas about the role
of eukaryotic photoautotrophs, nitrogen production and limitation and multiple
element limitation among others.
Dave noted the emergence of genetic information on many
organisms and pointed out that a large percentage of the genome is used for
regulation and that direct exchange of new genetic information among unrelated
prokaryotes is commonplace in nature. He also discussed the links between
microbial activity and changes in such climate variables as wind, temperature
and patterns of dust distribution. Finally, he offered a "carbon
sequestration forecast" for Station ALOHA: "Light trade winds with a
diel SST change of 2-3°C and a 50% probability of significant N2
fixation, increasing to 90% during periods of aperiodic dust (Fe)
deposition."
Several future scenarios are possible for HOT.
"Business as usual" would continue to entail 10 to 12 four-day
cruises a year. Transformation into a true "ocean observatory" would
entail emphasis on high-frequency remote instrumentation and sensing. If HOT becomes
an open-ocean long-term ecological research (LTER) site, the emphasis would
shift somewhat toward testing of biogeochemical and ecological hypotheses. The
future could include elements of each of these models, Dave said.
Dave noted a variety of collaborations with other
projects at the University of Hawaii as well as with investigators elsewhere.
He also described plans for the ANZCAN ALOHA observatory, which will take
advantage of an existing undersea coaxial telephone cable from Canada to
Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand that is no longer in use. HOT hopes to use
this cable, which passes near the research site, for continuous real-time power
and data transmission.
35.3 Time-Series: BATS Report
Before presenting his report on the Bermuda Atlantic
Time-series Study (BATS), Mike Lomas mentioned that the canceled time-series
workshop has been rescheduled to early April 2002. The workshop will include a
review of how knowledge of the oligotrophic gyres has changed since HOT and
BATS began and assessment of plans for the future.
BATS is in the midst of updating its server, Mike
reported. The first five data reports are online, and the others are available
on request. Mike is bringing his interest in changes in planktonic community
structure to BATS, adding an ecological dimension to the biogeochemical
mixture. He listed ancillary users who take advantage of the monthly
time-series cruises, including former BATS principal investigators Debbie
Steinberg and Craig Carlson.
BATS investigators want to head in the direction of
process-oriented research as HOT investigators are doing, Mike said, noting
that these studies have amassed a wonderful record of the biogeochemical pools.
The goal is to understand the links and processes that connect them. He went on
to present data on the changes in dissolved organic pools over time, addressing
the question of where the primary production is going. He linked an observed
decrease in the accumulation of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) with an increase
in the basal flux rate over the last decade and a decrease in chlorophyll b
during the late 1990s. He is just starting to look at the link between these
changes and potential changes in grazing rates and community structure.
Bob Anderson congratulated the time-series
representatives on HOT and BATS accomplishments in addressing JGOFS goals and
asked what their message would be to modelers. Chlorophyll should not be
treated as a bulk pool, Mike said. Organisms matter; they have different
responses to external forcing. He recommended digging more deeply into the
chlorophyll box. Dave Karl pointed out the importance of looking more closely
at the structure of the bulk DOC to see what individual compounds are
accumulating. Cindy Lee observed that the wealth of data emerging from the
time-series programs is allowing investigators to test new hypotheses.
The time-series programs of the future may have fewer,
longer cruises than is currently the case. Phil Taylor said that the scientific
balance is shifting toward experimentation and manipulation, which is likely to
depend on continuous observations over longer periods of time, whether from
ships or from remotely controlled instruments.
George Jackson noted the importance of midwater processes
such as remineralization and asked whether time-series work was planned on the
mesopelagic region. Dave said that lots of data was available and agreed that
remineralization was as important as export.
Mark Abbott asked whether the ancillary investigators
were coming to the time-series workshop and were providing access to their
data. Both Dave and Mike said that the time-series programs were getting good
access to their data.
35.4 Data Management Office
Report
Dave Glover introduced members of the data management office (DMO) as "the folks in the trenches with your data" and turned the presentation on DMO activities over to Cyndy Chandler. Priorities for the DMO are the data inventory, merged data products, software development, SMP data products and the final media set. Dave Schneider and George Heimerdinger are responsible for the data inventory for the process studies. Some 18% of NABE data sets are still missing, 11% for EqPac, less than 1% for Arabian Sea, and 18% for AESOPS. A closer look at the missing NABE data sets shows that some do not actually exist and that some are buried in other files.
Several SSC members objected to the "all hands"
approach to requests for data, noting that some putative delinquents thought
that they had sent in their data and some thought that a given data set was not
wanted. They suggested that lists of data sets be reviewed because not
everything mentioned in early cruise plans and other documents was actually
collected. A detailed discussion of particular data sets followed, addressing
such questions as what constitutes a data set, what should and should not be
included in the U.S. JGOFS database, and what metadata should be included with
the data sets.
After some discussion of whose responsibility it was to
pressure investigators for their data and which data sets were critical to the
JGOFS mission, Mark Abbott said that the SSC should look at lists of data sets
and let the DMO know which ones were critical. He will then talk to the
agencies. After final letters from the DMO, copied to the SSC, a list of
delinquents will be posted at the U.S. JGOFS web site.
Cyndy continued with an update on the task of producing
merged data products. She was pleased to learn from the BATS and HOT
presentations that all the DMO work on renaming parameters and the careful
separation of organisms into appropriate categories was of great value. She
asked whether merged products should include standard deviations and errors;
the answer was no.
The sixth version of the Live Access Server (LAS) at the
NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) is scheduled to be released
in December. It will have a richer metadata interface, a greater ability to
select subsets of data, and multivariable support for both viewing and
downloading. Cyndy explained that these developments will allow comparison of
disparate data sets. A JGOFS LAS tutorial is available at the U.S. JGOFS web
site; Cyndy updates it regularly.
After a break for lunch, Mark made a presentation on
behalf of the SSC and the planning office to former DMO manager Chris Hammond in
recognition of her many accomplishments. Noting that it now takes two people to
do what Chris once did, Mark observed that U.S. JGOFS has a very good data
system, thanks in good part to the groundwork carried out by Chris.
Cyndy continued her presentation with a discussion of
data management for the Synthesis and Modeling Project (SMP). Acknowledging a
rocky start, she explained that no one had been fully prepared for the
complexity of the data sets. DMO staff members are working with the team at PMEL
on procedures for assessing each SMP data set as it comes in to see whether
JLAS can cope with it. A web page with instructions on preparing gridded data
sets can be found at http://usjgofs.whoi.edu/mzweb/las_guidelines.html. Also under development is an electronic
mail citation format for publications.
The first volume of the final U.S. JGOFS data set will be
available by May 2003 with process-study data and merged products. Software
will include a web browser interface, GIS for data selection, data subselection
capability and the ability to extract data in a format selected by the user.
Future DMO efforts will focus on the merged products, completion of data
acquisition, software development, model data and the final data set.
Cyndy asked SSC members what they want to do about
flagged bottle data from EqPac, roughly 3-4% of Jim Murray's bottle data set.
Cindy Lee suggested that data users have the option of including the flagged
data or not when they request the data set.
George Jackson asked about getting access to international data sets. Roger Hanson noted that the JGOFS Data Management Task Team (DMTT) is dedicated to producing a master set of JGOFS data from all participating countries by the end of the project (2003). Efforts are now underway to collect all national JGOFS datasets and produce a Master Dataset in the World Data Center System; national data sets will remain at the Ocean Data Centers of the participating countries. Roger also mentioned that Germany plans to host and maintain the long term stewardship of the Master Dataset at the recently established World Data Centre for Marine Environmental Sciences (WDC-MARE). With some support from WDC-Oceanography A, WDC- MARE plans to mass-produce the JGOFS Master Dataset on CD-ROMs for distribution.
Noting the difficulties involved in getting access to
data, Roger reported that JGOFS data sets in Germany, the U.K., France and the
U.S. are almost entirely complete and accessible. The Japanese JGOFS data set
is nearly complete but not yet accessible. Bits and pieces of data are
available from other national programs. People persist in focusing primarily on
availability rather than on long-term storage, he said.
Dave Glover observed that Germany is one of the better
servers of data but that it has serious limitations on what may be served
legally. The European Union has passed laws that restrict access to data
seriously. He urged the SSC to look at this problem carefully before agreeing
to put data anywhere.
Mark asked about access to the U.S. JGOFS time-series
data sets and interaction with the DMO. Dave Karl acknowledged that naming in
the time-series data sets is somewhat different from that of the rest and said
that John Dore was working on the problem. Cyndy said that she and John discuss
what would be easy and hard to bring from the time-series data sets into the
DMO database and into merged products. There is no automatic way for Cyndy's
software to query the time-series software; a user has to request information.
Mark then asked Roger about time-series and CO2
survey data in international planning. Roger said that the DMTT hopes for a
large percentage of these data but does not expect to get it all. Some
time-series programs are still underway, while others are done.
35.5 Science Minute:
Ocean Carbon Cycle Modeling
Mick Follows made a presentation on a modeling study that
focuses on the role of the low-latitude oceans and wind-driven gyres in
controlling atmospheric pCO2. This study tests the conclusion
emerging from box-model studies in the 1980s that only high-latitude ocean
processes can affect atmospheric pCO2 significantly. More recent
studies with general circulation models (GCMs) have shown a much higher
atmospheric pCO2 sensitivity to low-latitude surface perturbations,
he noted. Why do different sorts of models give different results?
Atmospheric pCO2 is significantly influenced
by the carbon reservoir in subtropical thermocline waters, formed at low
latitudes. The way the wind-driven gyres and the ventilated thermocline are
represented affects the relative sensitivities of box models and GCMs, Mick
said. The interesting question is whether the ventilated thermocline could be a
significant agent of change for atmospheric pCO2.
35.6 Planning Office
Report
Ken Buesseler gave a quick review of U.S. JGOFS Planning
Office news. The final PO/DMO proposal covers a four-year period through early
2005, running through the last stretch of the SMP. Planning office activity
will decline significantly after the JGOFS Open Science Conference (OSC) in May
2003 and the distribution of final data products in 2004. Funding was awarded
at the 85% level, necessitating a decrease in the size and frequency of SSC
meetings and some reduction in the U.S. contribution to the OSC.
The office has sent out some
5,000 paper copies of the "Legacy" brochure to date. The brochure is
available electronically as well as a pdf file, and high-resolution images of
individual photos and figures are available. The U.S. JGOFS special issue of
Oceanography is coming out in December 2001; included are 10 papers and eight
sidebars or shorter pieces. The Oceanography Society (TOS) membership will take
up about 2,000 copies, and the planning office is ordering an extra 1,000 to
2,000. The Legacy brochure will be sent along with the special issue to those
who have not already received it.
Dave Karl asked whether the special issue could be
downloaded from a web site or whether this would create copyright problems. TOS
does not have a web site, Ken said, adding that he would raise the matter with
Bob Spinrad at TOS. SSC members agreed that having the special issue on a web
site with an index that could be picked up by Google would make its contents
available to a vast number of people.
Several meetings have been postponed from dates this fall
until 2002. They include the international DMTT meeting, the SMP iron workshop
and the time-series "summit." An SMP workshop on mid-water processes
will be held March 25-27, 2002. The summer SMP workshop is scheduled for July
22-26 at Asilomar, California (subsequently moved to Woods Hole). The JGOFS OSC
will take place May 5-8, 2003, in Washington, D.C.
35.7 JGOFS SSC Report
Roger Hanson reported on the JGOFS steering committee
meeting in July 2001 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and JGOFS participation in
"Challenges of a Changing Earth," the international open science
conference that took place afterwards. The International Geosphere-Biosphere
Programme (IGBP) was one of the sponsors of the conference. Ocean scientists
involved in a number of IGBP core projects participated; Roger singled out fine
talks by Berrien Moore, Tom Pedersen, Ray Bradley and Dave Karl for mention. He
also circulated copies of the Amsterdam Declaration on Global Change, signed by
the chairs of the four international sponsors of the conference.
Challenges of the JGOFS global synthesis phase include
synthesis of the regional process studies, global surveys and time-series
programs, analysis and modeling, and the collection and archiving of ocean
biogeochemical data. Roger listed the various synthetic publications emerging
from various components of the program as well as from the open science
conferences.
The international program is scheduled to draw to a close
in December 2003. The JGOFS SSC currently includes six at-large members and the
chairs of the regional and topical planning groups and task teams. Synthesis
activities planned for 2002 include meetings of the DMTT in Washington in
January, the North Atlantic Synthesis Group in Honolulu in February, the North
Pacific Synthesis Group in Sydney, Canada, in October, and the JGOFS SSC in
Concepción, Chile, in the fall. Scientific events include a Southern Ocean
Synthesis Group session at AGU/ASLO Ocean Sciences meeting in Honolulu in
February and a North Atlantic Synthesis Group session in Nice, France. A
variety of workshops are planned, and training course will take place in Chile
next fall.
Roger then reviewed the work of the DMTT and touched on
many of the same issues mentioned during the DMO report. The International
Project Office in Bergen continues to maintain a high-quality metadata file on
each JGOFS cruise and is developing a metadata catalog
(DIF) for submission to the
Global Change Master Directory at NASA. It also assists data managers and national
programs with acquiring and submitting data, especially in countries without
ocean data centers.
35.8 Synthesis and
Modeling Project (SMP)
Speaking on behalf of Scott Doney, who could not attend,
Joanie Kleypas began her SMP presentation with a brief review of the 2001
summer workshop, held in Woods Hole July 16-20. Nearly all the SMP projects
were represented with 80 attendees. Joanie cited an excellent DMO presentation
and tutorial and invited talks by Jim Bishop and Taro Takahashi as highlights
of the event. Participants gave 50 15-minute talks and presented 20 posters.
The current list of SMP working groups includes large-scale data sets,
continental margins, community synthesis and modeling, regional testbeds,
midwater processes, and calcification.
Turning to SMP funding, Joanie noted that NSF funded 10
new projects in the FY 2001 round. The next round will be the last for NSF.
Some of the final projects will continue through 2004. A total of 65 projects
involving 130 principal and co-principal investigators have been funded since
the SMP was launched in 1997; sources of support include NOAA, DOE and NASA in
addition to the more sizeable contribution of the NSF. Mark pointed out that
NASA selected carbon cycle science projects this summer and that five or six
were chosen as SMP projects. Mary-Elena Carr said that NASA sees these projects
as ocean carbon cycle research but not explicitly JGOFS. In answer to a
question about NASA support for SMP meetings, Joanie said that none had
designated specifically for this purpose, unlike the first round of NASA
support for SMP projects.
Three SMP events took place during 2001: the marine
calcification workshop, the international WOCE/JGOFS transport workshop, and
the summer investigators' meeting. An iron workshop scheduled for late
September was postponed until 2002. The all-hands investigators' meetings will
be held each summer through 2004. Other proposed workshops include one on
midwater processes in spring 2002 and two on regional testbeds, one 2002 and
one in 2003.
Will Berelson asked about the number of students who get
to SMP workshops. Tight money and space make it hard to include very many
students in the summer workshop, Joanie said, asking the SSC to think about how
important this matter was.
The first SMP special issue of Deep-Sea Research II, to be published in January 2002, will contain
20 papers. Editors are Doney, Falkowski and Sarmiento. The abstracts and most
preprints are available temporarily via the SMP web page. Plans are underway
for a second special issue, which has a March 2002 deadline for submission,
December 2002 deadline for final manuscripts, and a January 2003 deadline for
submission to the publishers. This issue should be out in spring or summer
2003, Joanie said. Eight papers are proposed at the moment for this issue,
probably plus a CD-ROM.
Joanie next gave an update on SMP data management.
Experts at PMEL and the University of Washington are working on making U.S.
JGOFS process study data more useful and accessible to SMP investigators and on
improving their ability to merge and display data products. The SMP management
grant is supporting this effort. The web site for the JGOFS Live Access Server (JLAS) is
http://ferret.wrc.noaa.gov/jgofs/main.pl. Recent improvements include a new
user interface design for US JGOFS data, ability to select data for particular
cruises and other constraints, a richer metadata interface, gridding to
user-defined grids and differencing between gridded and ins-situ fields, the
ability to select multiple variables for both downloading and plotting,
enhanced plotting capabilities, and ease-of-use improvements.
Joanie asked for feedback on the above improvements from
the SSC and from SMP investigators. She then reviewed mechanisms for serving
data on the SMP data system, differentiating between gridded data, non-gridded
data and model code. She also mentioned some lessons learned about getting data
into the system and reviewed the status of each SMP data set.
Ken asked about getting access to SMP data located
elsewhere other than the DMO after investigators stop serving their data sets.
The problem is under discussion, Joanie said. Cindy asked for clarification of
the meaning of "data" in the SMP context; model output was the answer.
The day concluded with a general discussion about length, style and structure
in the development of an effective meeting. SSC members expressed a preference
for getting away from many short presentations. Cindy emphasized the importance
of talking about what we don't know as well as what we do.
35.9 SMP Update Continued
Joanie Kleypas resumed her
presentation with a review of proposed changes in style and organization of the
SMP workshops. One option for the summer all-investigator meetings is to
continue as before with presentations by each investigator and discussions and
other activities as time permits. The other option is to define specific goals
and design the meeting around them. This approach would entail just a few key
speakers and many poster presentations. It would require more pre-meeting
planning, Joanie said. Mark urged a move toward the second option.
Mick Follows said a few
words about a proposed NATO Advanced Study Institute of the ocean carbon cycle
and climate, to be held at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara,
Turkey, August 5-16, 2002. Mick is among the organizers. The plan is to invite
40 to 50 students from NATO, partner and other Mediterranean countries and 10
to 12 lecturers, each participating for a week. Funds are being sought from
NATO and from agencies such as IOC and SCOR and U.S. JGOFS.
The SMP presentation
continued with a discussion about potential outreach and educational
activities. Tony Knap described the BATS online program for teachers, which was
funded by NSF for two years. Because the NSF education section is not
interested in providing continued funding, Tony is now trying for NASA funds.
Marlon mentioned his
concerns about the reliance of JGOFS on publishing in Deep-Sea Research II. He is under the impression that DSR II has a
low Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) ranking in terms of frequency of
citations of papers published there. Although there are some excellent papers
published in DSR II, he said, there are some that are not so hot as well. He
argued that library choices of journals and departmental tenure decisions both
take note of ISI citation ratings.
Jorge drew a distinction
between journals of record and more competitive journals. He described DSR II
as a journal of record that one would cite if one were using data from someone
else. Joanie noted that turn-around time was an important consideration in
deciding where to publish a special issue. Bob said that Elsevier does not use
ISI ratings because they consider them to be full of bugs. Cindy noted the
tremendous teaching value of special issues that one can hand to students.
Joanie continued with a
report on the SMP calcification workshop, which took place in late May-early
June at WHOI. She also circulated a synopsis of the workshop put together by
Debora Iglesias-Rodriguez and others and gave an overview of results and
recommendations. A brief report will appear in the next U.S. JGOFS newsletter
(11,3).
George Jackson discussed
plans for a midwater processes workshop March 23-25, 2002, in San Antonio. Its
aim is to get people together who can tell us about mechanisms and inferred
rates, he said. About 25 participants are expected. The steering committee
comprises George, Adrian Burd, Richard Lampitt and Mick Follows.
35.10 Planning for Future Research: NSF
Update
Phil Taylor gave a brief
presentation on planning in the NSF Directorate of Geosciences for the future
support of carbon-cycle research. All Geosciences divisions (OCE, ATM and EAR)
are participating in a new FY 2002 competition to support integrated
carbon-cycle science, he said, and an announcement will be released later in
the year. This announcement, which is expected to total $10 million, will be
the first of a set of announcements over the next several years. Future
announcements may not necessarily be combined across all of Geosciences, he
noted.
Phil stated NSF's commitment
to increasing scientific understanding of the processes that regulate the
transport and transformation of carbon within and among the terrestrial,
oceanic and atmospheric spheres of the earth. The agency intends to continue to
support and coordinate basic research on the carbon cycle and to work with
other federal agencies seeking to develop a coordinated national scientific
effort in this area.
The Carbon Cycle Science
Plan (CCSP) clearly shows the need to focus resources on understanding the
carbon balance in the Northern Hemisphere, particularly the North American
region and adjacent ocean basins, Phil said. The NSF agrees with this
recommendation, although it will not be the exclusive focus of the upcoming
announcement. The CCSP provided only a general blueprint in some areas of an
overall scientific effort, leaving many details concerning processes and
mechanisms to be articulated, he added.
Phil listed a set of
activities with community input that have been supported by the NSF and other
agencies. Included were: the North American Carbon Program (NACP), The Changing
Carbon Cycle: A Terrestrial Focus, Large-Scale CO2 Observing Plan:
Oceans and Atmosphere (LSCOP), Transport, Transformation and Fate of Organic
Carbon in River-Dominated Ecosystems (RIOMAR), Ocean Carbon Transport,
Exchanges and Transformations (OCTET), Ecological Determinants of Ocean Carbon
Cycling (EDOCC), and Ocean Carbon Cycle Research Planning (OCCR). In answer to
a question about SOLAS, Rik Wanninkhof pointed out that it is not purely a
carbon program and thus not on this list, but that the major carbon goals of
SOLAS are contained in the OCCR document.
Returning to the proposed
NSF announcement, Phil said that it is expected to come out in December, with
an early March 2002 deadline and anticipated starts in the summer or fall of
2002. He reiterated NSF's interest in encouraging interagency and international
cooperation and noted that the agencies are in a transition period in terms of
research focus. Discussion followed on the goals and criteria for evaluation of
proposals to be submitted in response to the upcoming announcement.
35.11 Planning for Future Research: OCCR
Update
Cindy Lee, chair of the OCCR
committee, gave a brief report on its activities. She showed a list of members
and commented that the committee is now truly diverse in its representation of
ocean sciences. This committee is charged with bringing together ideas and making
recommendations for priorities, not organizing programs, she said. It has
combined ideas from EDOCC, OCTET and SOLAS as well as from investigators
interested specifically in the continental margins. The group was unable to
meet as planned as a result of Sept. 11 and thus was unable to interact with
the NOAA and CLIVAR representatives who were scheduled to attend. Discussion
ensued on the importance of interaction with CLIVAR and of taking advantage of
the ARGO floats that are to be deployed in the North Atlantic.
Phil indicated that OCCR
input into the development of the upcoming NSF announcement of opportunity was
the best and most comprehensive that the agency received. Cindy expressed
concern that the AO would attract a diverse and unfocused set of proposals.
Unlike JGOFS, it invites proposals at all scales and has no mechanism for
organizing and starting a big program, she said. No structure for planning a
big, integrated program is taking shape at the moment, a matter that concerns
her committee, she added. She also expressed concern about the lack of
protection for the process of organizing a framework for a big program.
Will Berelson asked whether
RIOMAR was the only group following the JGOFS model. It has an infrastructure
in place, Cindy said. Will expressed concern about the risk of recycling with
the sort of broad approach adopted in the forthcoming AO.
35.12 Science Minute: Shallow
Remineralization at BATS
Ray Najjar gave a short talk
on a modeling study of the remineralization of organic matter in the Sargasso
Sea. He and his colleagues used a diagnostic model of the annual cycles of
oxygen, dissolved inorganic carbon and nitrate below the mixed layer at the
BATS site to estimate organic matter remineralization in the seasonal thermocline.
The model includes advection and diffusion, which are significant components of
the seasonal patterns of O2, DIC and NO3, Ray said. The
investigators looked at the individual patterns of production and consumption
of these compounds and their implications for element ratios in
remineralization. This approach may help solve the conundrum of non-Redfield
ratios in surface waters and Redfield ratios in deep waters, Ray said, noting
the midwater cycling of dissolved organic matter with high C to N ratios that
does not get into the deep sea for the most part.
Bob Anderson took the floor
after lunch to present an AESOPS "science minute" and review a number
of developments. Two AESOPS volumes have been published in Deep-Sea Research II, and a third is coming along. He noted a
number of AESOPS articles in other journals as well.
Bob gave an overview of
AESOPS highlights, showing figures from various research projects. AESOPS was
the first study to capture the complete seasonal cycle in the Ross Sea and the
polar frontal zone along 170°W, a region with tremendous variability, he said.
The use of two different ships offered opportunities for intercalibration. A
broader issue is how representative the southwest Pacific is of the entire
Southern Ocean. Half of the Southern Ocean is "brighter" (higher
productivity) than the other half, Bob said, but the transect along 170°W is
pretty close to average.
Summary points were:
A. High export from low
production. Primary production was around 80-100 gC/m2/yr; export at
100 meters was around 30 ±10 gC/m2/yr, and POC flux at 1,000 meters
was about two times the global average.
B. Satellite-based models
underestimate both primary and export production.
C. The Southern Ocean
provides roughly one-third of global export production.
Bob hypothesized that light,
iron and silica are each limiting factors at some time and place in the
Southern Ocean. A shallow mixed layer plus at least 0.2 nM Fe yields large
diatoms and an export flux that is moderate to large in the absolute sense, but
very high in terms of f-ratio. Cindy observed that pteropod populations in the
Southern Ocean were incredible and that they were responsible for most of the
carbonate flux.
35.14 U.S. SOLAS Report
Rik Wanninkhof serves as
co-chair of U.S. SOLAS, along with Russ Dickerson. U.S. SOLAS held a workshop
in May that has yielded reports from four working groups: boundary-layer
physics, long-lived CRC's, short-lived CRC's and atmospheric impacts on the
marine nitrogen cycle. SOLAS has formed a steering committee, which will meet
this winter. Both Canada and Germany have organized SOLAS programs, Rik said.
35.15 WOCE/JGOFS Transport Workshop
Rik reported next on the
WOCE/JGOFS Transport Workshop held in Southampton, U.K., in June. The focus was
on estimation of the transport of carbon, nutrients and oxygen in the ocean. He
regards it as a great success; the workshop attracted 90 scientists from 11
nations. Sponsors were WOCE, JGOFS, U.S. JGOFS, U.S. WOCE and NOAA (OGP). A
report on both parts of the workshop (WOCE and JGOFS) will be forthcoming.
35.16 U.S. CLIVAR/CO2 Repeat Hydrography Program
Next on the agenda was a
report on the proposed repeat hydrography program, also given by Rik. The U.S.
CLIVAR Steering Committee and the U.S. Carbon Cycle Scientific Steering Group
have established a committee in consultation with OCE at NSF and OGP at NOAA.
Co-chairs are Rana Fine and Rik. The proposal is for an observational program
to monitor the changing patterns of CO2 in the ocean and to provide
the necessary data to support continuing model development that will lead to
improvements in forecasting changes in the ocean and in global climate.
If funded, this program will
give as much weight to measuring CO2 as to carrying out repeat
hydrography as part of U.S. CLIVAR, Rik said. The aim is to mount one and a
half cruises a year, or 70 days of ship time, with an expected cost around $3
million. Objectives of the repeat hydrography effort are carbon system studies,
heat and freshwater storage and flux studies, deep and shallow water mass and
ventilation studies, calibration of autonomous sensors and accumulation of data
for model calibration and validation.
Cindy noted that one of the
OCCR recommendations was to allocate resources for links with programs such as
this one. Rik emphasized the need for community outreach and input. The web
site for the program is: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/ocd/repeathydro. An announcement will go out when the
detailed plans are posted on the web site.
35.17 CLIVAR Report
Daniela Turk, who has
recently joined the international CLIVAR office, gave a brief report on the
program. Intended to last for 15 years, CLIVAR began in 1995 under the aegis of
WCRP. Its objectives are to describe and understand physical processes
responsible for climate variability and predictability, to extend the record of
climate variability by assembling paleoclimatic and instrumental data sets, to
extend the range and accuracy of seasonal to interannual climate prediction through
the development of predictive models, and to understand and predict the
response of the climate system to increases in gases and aerosols and to
compare these predictions with the climate record to detect anthropogenic
modification of natural climate signals.
Although CLIVAR is a
physical program, there is considerable interest in interacting with carbon
researchers, Daniela said. She described plans for repeat sections with both
hydrological and carbon measurements and a joint carbon project sponsored by
WCRP, IGBP and IHDP.
35.18 The Incompleat POGO (with apologies to Walt Kelly)
Tony Knap brought the SSC up
to date on the international Partnership for Ocean Global Observations (POGO).
A goal of this partnership is to address the lack of ocean laboratories and
long-term time-series measurements in the Southern Hemisphere.
The partnership has held
several workshops recently, including one in Woods Hole in May on oceanographic
time series. Objectives include locating suitable sites, developing rationales
for establishing and maintaining instrument arrays, identifying gaps in
existing programs, coordinating implementation and data transmission, creating
links to complementary programs and looking for funding mechanisms for
sustained observations.
Tony showed a map and list
of selected time-series sites, existing and planned, in the Atlantic, Pacific,
Indian and Southern oceans and answered questions about the choices they
represent. He also listed the variables selected for measurement. The observatory
system proposed is intended to be multidisciplinary, and the data are to be
available to the public as soon as they are received and pass through quality
control. An international science team will provide guidance, coordination,
outreach and oversight for implementation, data management and capacity
building.
POGO is intended to focus on
building capacity, Tony said, not on "high-end science." The aim is
to give developing nations some tools.
35.19 Review of U.S. JGOFS
Bob Anderson and Mark Abbott
led a discussion about how the SSC might organize a final review of U.S. JGOFS,
somewhat like the mid-course review conducted under Cindy's leadership some 6
or 7 years ago. The goal is to review what JGOFS has done as a large-scale
ocean research program over the 17 years since it began. What did we learn from
JGOFS that we can apply to policymaking and human concerns as well as to future
research programs?
Bob posted a list of general
review questions for the SSC to consider:
Does U.S. JGOFS have clearly
stated and reasonably attainable goals?
Has U.S. JGOFS evolved a
successful strategy to attain its goals?
Has U.S JGOFS been
successful in implementing its strategy?
Are its goals being
achieved?
Was the leadership
appropriate for the stated goals?
Were the available resources
appropriate for the stated goals?
What has been the overall
impact of U.S. JGOFS on ocean science?
Are there other lessons to
be learned?
He also listed the U.S.
JGOFS overall goal, a set of specific objectives and a set of specific
operational goals.
The SSC then discussed
various approaches toward conducting such a review and considered the relevant
audiences. All agreed that U.S. JGOFS needed to make a cogent and compelling
case for the value of large-scale, multidisciplinary programs and to show what
was learned in JGOFS that could not be done in any other way.
35.20 NSF Update II
Former SSC member Jim Yoder,
now director of the NSF Ocean Sciences Division, gave the committee more
information about the upcoming carbon announcement and other NSF events and
activities. Although all three divisions of Geosciences are putting in money,
oceans money will go to oceanographic projects. Some projects, such as a
watershed study, might be jointly funded, he said.
Jim said that the amount
available for ocean research for FY 2002 will be on the order of $5 to $6
million; it could go up. The budget has not cleared the congressional
conference committee yet. NSF administrators are hoping to see a 9% to 10%
increase this year.
Jim pointed out that growth
in the budget is often the result of congressional direction of money into new
initiatives, such as biocomplexity. Information technology is coming. Even with
large increases, core programs do not grow much, he said. Ship operations ate up
much of last year's rise, he added.
Last summer saw lots of
attention to carbon and climate change in Washington. Geosciences director
Margaret Leinen worked on a climate change initiative for the White House.
Other agencies are interested in carbon cycle research as well as NSF. NASA has
significant plans, starting in FY 2003, that Chuck McClain will be
coordinating. NOAA is also planning significant work.
Looking forward to FY 2003,
Jim said that he could not predict the effects of 9/11. Ship operations are
certain to be affected, for example, by insurance restrictions.
Mark expressed the SSC
feeling that the scientific community continues to be interested in
large-scale, multidisciplinary studies, recognizing that they require more
structure and organization than individual research projects. Jim noted the
directorate-wide initiative in Geosciences, which is broader than oceans. Other
divisions in Geosciences are less used to big projects like JGOFS, he said, and
they are likely to look to OCE for guidance. The announcement of opportunity
for this initiative does not preclude funds for a planning office.
Jim went on to observe that
NSF funds formerly allocated to JGOFS will be used for interdisciplinary work,
integrated across land, atmosphere and ocean rather than just within ocean
research. He recognized SSC concerns about confusion over overlapping
responsibilities of various committees and said that this would be sorted out.
Ken asked about the role of
the Ocean Commission, headed by Admiral Watkins. Scientists and their deans
should go to the regional meetings that are taking place all around the
country, Jim said. The problem is that people tend to talk about fisheries, not
ocean research, at these meetings.
In answer to questions about
the foci of the new carbon initiative, Jim recommended focusing on what was
learned in JGOFS and what areas are ripe for new discoveries. The problem of
degree of focus on usable results versus the advancement of basic knowledge is
always present in any interagency undertaking, he acknowledged.
With regard to the problem
of future support for ongoing large-scale carbon-cycle research, Jim said that
the next big source of information would be the President's science plan. It
will give the agencies a chance to respond and plan for the future, although it
will not provide direction for this year. Jim also reminded the SSC that the
U.S. JGOFS time-series stations are already funded and that they are not coming
out of the forthcoming AO.
35.21 Final Open Science Conference
Debbie Steinberg led a
discussion of the final JGOFS open science conference, scheduled to convene in
Washington, D.C., May 5-8, 2003. She asked SSC members to think about what they
would like to see and how the conference should be structured. The organizing
committee wants to get started advertising the event.
Planning so far calls for
avoiding parallel sessions and many short talks. A select number of invited
speakers will give talks in the morning, and poster sessions will take place in
the afternoon. Evening sessions will include educational events and a talk for
a broad audience to which the public will be invited.
Ideas for the title of the
conference included borrowing the "Sea of Change" concept from Dave
Karl. The audience for the conference will include international as well as
U.S. scientists, government representatives, IGBP and other multinational
organizations, and representatives of new programs such as CLIVAR.
Representatives of private foundations and industry should be invited as well.
Cindy urged bringing in people from other NSF Geosciences divisions.
A number of names of
potential speakers were suggested. They will be expected to give synthetic
talks that put a number of pieces together and to submit their talks ahead of
time, Debbie said. Nominations will be sought from other national JGOFS
programs as well.
Themes proposed include the
response of ocean biogeochemistry to big climate systems, biocomplexity and the
food web, the anthropogenic impact on the ocean, global synthesis modeling, and
ocean alchemy, including carbon sequestration and iron fertilization. Another
issue mentioned was technological development, the advances in methods and
standards. "Old-timers" should be invited to give talks focusing on
the evolution from what we knew at the beginning of JGOFS to what we know now.
The conference should demonstrate that the sum of JGOFS is more than its parts.
Conference products should
include a briefing book with the talks and good illustrations to hand out.
Conference organizers should make data CDs available and have workstations set
up; the point to emphasize will be that anyone can look at and use JGOFS data.
Poster sessions will be
organized by both themes and regions. Bob suggested that Roger Hanson ask the
chair of each regional synthesis group to provide a synthesis poster for the
OSC. Roger suggested that the request for abstracts be linked to the list of
themes that finally emerges. Debbie pointed out that some topics could be
addressed in a panel format rather than in talks or posters.
The SSC concluded its
meeting with a brief discussion of its own role in presenting science community
views to the agencies. Ken showed a final overhead of a plan for organizing a
set of mid-size ocean projects under the umbrella of ocean biogeochemistry and
climate.