U.S. GLOBEC National Coordinating Office

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole MA

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (GLOBEC) research is to understand the potential impacts of climate change on ocean ecosystems. U.S. GLOBEC has matured into a multi-regional program with ongoing or planned studies in the Georges Bank Northwest Atlantic region, the California Current off Oregon and northern California, the Coastal Gulf of Alaska, and the Southern Ocean. These study sites have been specifically chosen to afford opportunities to examine the potential impacts of climate change on key physical processes affecting recruitment of marine populations. In order to continue these research programs, this grant will provide support for the Coordinating Office for the U.S. GLOBEC Scientific Steering Committee. The national office provides coordination and support for the regional programs, scientific planning and review, and communication. As the program has developed into a functional multi-regional program, the emphasis of the Scientific Steering Committee has shifted from scientific planning for the local field programs to an emphasis on coordination and planning for comparative studies and for integration within and between regional studies. The Coordinating Office will assume data management responsibilities for the U.S. GLOBEC program as a whole. This effort will supplant and expand the role currently played by the Georges Bank Data Management Office. It will ensure standardization of data sources and will provide ready access to all data sets according to the U.S. GLOBEC Data Management Policy. The Coordinating Office will be relocated to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and will remain in place for the duration of the U.S. GLOBEC Program. The principal advantages of a fixed location for the GLOBEC Coordinating Office at WHOI include greater stability in funding and time horizon for office personnel and ease in establishment and maintenance of a central data hub for each of the U.S. GLOBEC study sites.