Knap¹, Anthony H., Anthony F. Michaels², David M. Karl³, Michael W. Lomas¹, Roger Lukas³, Uwe Send⁴ and Robert Weller⁵

¹Bermuda Biological Station for Research, Inc., St. Georges, Bermuda, Tel: 441 297 1880 ext 244, Fax: 441 297 0860, E-mail: Knap@bbsr.edu, ²Wrigley Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, ³University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, ⁴Institute fur Meereskunde, Kiel, Germany, ⁵Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Time-series studies during JGOFS – an overview

Time-series were a key component to the success of JGOFS. They opened windows into the time-dependent behavior of ocean systems, provided the basis for critically examining and changing some key paradigms and were one of the ways that the broader ocean science community connected to the JGOFS program. We present an overview of the major time-series studies conducted as part of the JGOFS program, including: BATS in Bermuda (with its associated time-series of OPF, BTM and Hydrostation S), HOT in Hawaii, ESTOC (Canary Islands), SEATS (South east Asia), KNOT (Kurishio), Kerfix (Kerguelen), Dyfamed (Mediterranean) and OSP (North Pacific). In addition a number of multi-year time-series measurements have been made during various Process cruises primarily through moorings and sediment traps. During the period of JGOFS there have also been a variety of physical, biogeochemical and biological time-series that, while not explicitly identified as JGOFS, have provided additional critical data for our understanding of biogeochemical processes in the ocean. These include activities in the California Current (MBARI programs in Monterey Bay, CalCoFI and SPOT), Eilat (Red Sea), the Antarctic Peninsula, near Iceland, in the Cariaco Basin, the Caribbean Sea near Puerto Rico and off the coast of Chile. The value of these programs was further enhanced by an emerging ethos of open data policies, a practice that makes each of these scientific time-series even more valuable to the large communities of ancillary research programs that they attract. Major achievements of these programs have helped pave the way for the next generation of time-series observatories being proposed under the auspices of CLIVAR, DEOS, OOPC of GOOS, POGO and NEON.