2003 Polar Marine Science Gordon Conference

Gordon Research Conferences, East Greenwich RI

Investigators

Abstract

Storm 0236146 This award is a contribution toward support of travel and registration costs for participants in the Fourth Gordon Research Conference on Polar Marine Science. The conference, scheduled to take place on 16-21 March 2003 in Ventura, CA and will address the topic of The Changing Polar Oceans: Impacts of a Changing Climate on Physical, Chemical, Biological and Coupled Systems. The conference will assess the recently documented large-scale, interannual changes that have impacted the northern and southern polar ocean systems, their physical bases, and their impacts on physical, chemical, biological and coupled systems. Characterization of changes as oscillations, abrupt shifts or long-term trends will be central to subsequent discussion. Impacts of the physical changes on upper ocean biogeochemical systems, such as those involving dissolved oxygen uptake and the pCO2 balance, will be addressed, as will impacts on benthic-pelagic coupling and the carbon budget. Use of biological markers from diatoms and Phaeocystis will be discussed within an interannual change context. Impacts of the changing climate on sea ice cover, and likely consequences to ice biota and to the exchange of such substances as CO2 and DMS, will be considered. An attempt will be made to assess aspects of concurrent interannual changes in broader food web variability. Both field and modeling results and paleoceanographic reconstruction of past conditions will be used in the discussions.