Support for U.S. Participation in International Ocean Research Projects and Working Groups

Scientific Committee On Oceanic Research (Scor), Newark DE

Investigators

Abstract

Continuing support is provided for the international oceanographic activities of the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) that are relevant to U.S. interests in marine sciences and the Division of Ocean Sciences. There are currently thirty-eight countries represented in SCOR. The Ocean Studies Board of the National Academy of Sciences serves as the U.S. national committee. Individual ocean scientists participate in SCOR activities through subsidiary bodies such as working groups and scientific steering committees. Funding will support two major SCOR activities: 1) U.S. sponsorship of focused SCOR Working Groups. Presently, there are twelve such Working Groups covering diverse ocean-science related topics. Working Groups are comprised of experts from different countries who meet on a regular basis to discuss and assess the scientific status of their topic area and produce a report that advises and provides recommendations for further research efforts. 2) Science Steering Committee activities of the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) - a study of the ocean's role in the global carbon cycle and its response to global change; Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics (GLOBEC) - an effort to understand the relationships between physical variability in the ocean and the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems and how they may be impacted by global change; and Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (GEOHAB) - a program to improve our understanding of the processes involved in the development of algal blooms which have enormous consequences for marine resources, the economies which depend upon them and, in some cases, human health. SCOR will also be involved in developing plans for a new program (Surface Ocean-Lower Atmosphere Study, SOLAS) to look at the interactions between the upper ocean and the lower part of the atmosphere where many important exchanges take place, in particular of carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases"; SCOR and IGBP are developing the Ocean Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Analysis ( OCEANS) project. The goal of OCEANS is to understand the sensitivity of the ocean to global change within the context of the broader Earth System. These major programs have origins in U.S. and have turned to SCOR to provide a forum for international planning and coordination. SCOR's impact has and will continue to be evident in the standardization of measurement protocols, sharing of data, coordination of ship time, and the enlargement of field studies which would be impossible without international coordination.