Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry
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The Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry (OCB) program focuses on the ocean’s role as a component of the global Earth system, bringing together research in geochemistry, ocean physics, and ecology that inform on and advance our understanding of ocean biogeochemistry. The overall program goals are to promote, plan, and coordinate collaborative, multidisciplinary research opportunities within the U.S. research community and with international partners.
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OtherOcean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Workshop 2006(OCB Project Office, 2006-07)The objectives of the OCB summer 2006 workshop were to highlight recent scientific findings in ocean biogeochemistry and related ecological and physical research, foster improved communication among existing ocean biogeochemistry observing programs and process studies, and discuss applications of emerging observational technologies in marine biogeochemistry.
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OtherOcean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Workshop 2007(OCB Project Office, 2007-07)The summer 2007 OCB Science Workshop seeks to recognize new research opportunities at the interface between traditional disciplines. Participants are encouraged to "think outside the box" of their own immediate research communities and communicate with scientists in other disciplines. Three primary interdisciplinary themes have been identified for this workshop, bearing in mind that subsequent workshops will address additional themes - The interplay between biotic structure and biogeochemical cycles; Changing Ocean Biogeochemistry: the Prediction Challenge; Cross-boundary fluxes in the coastal ocean.
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OtherOcean acidification(OCB Project Office, 2007-10)The goal of this workshop was to bring together researchers to discuss potential ocean acidification research projects that support the OCB mission. We specifically wanted to move toward specific implementation strategies to address the many research gaps and unknowns about ocean acidification that have been identified in previous workshops.
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OtherOcean Carbon and Biogeochemistry News, vol. 1, no. 2(OCB Project Office, 2008)Ho, DT and CL Sabine. Southern Ocean Gas Exchange Experiment.
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OtherOcean Carbon and Biogeochemistry News, vol. 1, no. 1(OCB Project Office, 2008)Hutchins, D. Ocean Acidification or CO2 Fertilization?
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OtherTerrestrial and coastal carbon fluxes in the Gulf of Mexico(OCB Project Office, 2008-05)The workshop goal was to bring together researchers from across multiple disciplines, including terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems, to discuss the state of knowledge of carbon fluxes, data gaps, and overarching questions in the Gulf of Mexico system. The workshop stimulated discussions on how best to design integrated studies of marine and terrestrial biogeochemical cycles and associated ecosystems that would improve understanding of the evolving role of the gulf in the carbon cycle in the face of environmental change.
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OtherOcean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Workshop 2008(OCB Project Office, 2008-07)The focus of this year’s workshop was on the following interdisciplinary themes: Climate sensitivity of ecosystem structure and associated impacts on biogeochemical cycles Implications of climate variability and climate change for ocean biogeochemistry and benthic and pelagic ecosystems covering all trophic levels. Carbon uptake and storage Recent observational and modeling findings quantifying the magnitude and trends in ocean carbon fluxes and carbon storage. Temporal trends in ecosystem variability Application of ocean time-series data to characterize ecosystem response to varying climatic and biogeochemical boundary conditions. The session will include both modern and paleo-time-series in order to place the trends over the past century and future trends in a broader temporal context.
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OtherOcean Carbon and Biogeochemistry News, vol. 2, no. 2(OCB Project Office, 2009)Smith, WO, S Tozzi, A Shields, J Dreyer, J Peloquin, and V Asper. Interannual, Seasonal, and Event-Scale Variability in the Ross Sea.
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OtherOcean Carbon and Biogeochemistry News, vol. 2, no. 1(OCB Project Office, 2009)Church, M, R Bidigare, J Dore, D Karl, M Landry, R Letelier, and R Lukas. The Ocean is HOT: 20 years of Hawaii Ocean Time-Series Research in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre.
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OtherObserving biogeochemical cycles at global scales with profiling floats and gliders(OCB Project Office, 2009-04)This Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry (OCB) Scoping Workshop focused on the implementation of a long-term observing system for marine biogeochemistry using chemical and biological sensors deployed on autonomous platforms, such as profiling floats, gliders or other long-endurance autonomous vehicles. Several chemical and biological sensors can now be deployed for months to years in the ocean on floats and gliders. These systems are becoming sufficiently affordable that it is possible to envision biogeochemical sensor networks with hundreds of nodes or more, similar to the current Argo network of 3000 floats. This will allow the development of basin-scale and, ultimately, global-scale observing systems. These sensor networks will permit ocean scientists to quantitatively observe fundamental biogeochemical processes such as rates of nutrient supply, net community production, physical controls on bloom development (e.g. the Sverdrup Hypothesis), dynamics of oxygen minimum zones and their impacts on denitrification, and carbon export throughout the ocean with a level of detail hitherto impossible. The spatial and temporal responses of these processes to climate oscillations and greenhouse gas forcing will be observed with a resolution that is simply not possible when observations are limited to ships. An integrated observing system that combines in situ sensors deployed on long endurance platforms with satellite sensors and data-assimilating, biogeochemical-ecological models would provide previously unachievable constraints on the carbon cycle and its sensitivity to a changing climate. It would transform ocean biogeochemistry. These capabilities are developing rapidly but they are not yet widely appreciated by the ocean science community. This Scoping Workshop had four specific goals: 1) to provide carbon cycle scientists with a critical review of currently existing technologies, their strengths, their weaknesses, and expected developments, 2) to identify problems that can only be solved with these types of observations over several years and to then discuss experiments that could be implemented in the near-term to address these topics, 3) to outline the requirements for a long-term observing system based on in situ sensors, satellites and data-assimilating models to monitor biogeochemical processes on a global scale, and 4) to identify factors limiting development of proven sensors and unmet technical developments required to expand our capability to an integrated observing system.
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OtherNew Frontiers in Southern Ocean Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research(OCB Project Office, 2009-06)This Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry (OCB) scoping workshop in Princeton, New Jersey, will focus on carbon cycling and marine ecosystems in the context of climate variability in the Southern Ocean. The Southern Ocean plays a critical role in the global climate system owing to its unique physical, biogeochemical, and ecological features. The region is undergoing substantial changes in response to climate trends and variability, and future changes are expected to exert substantial impacts on biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem processes of the Antarctic. Despite increased efforts to understand these processes, significant discrepancies still exist between models and observations, and a number of key processes remain poorly quantified. There is a clear and increasing need to develop a coordinated approach that advances our understanding of climate variability in the Southern Ocean and its implications for ecosystem dynamics and biogeochemical cycling. The overall objective of this Scoping Workshop will be to facilitate interaction between the physical, biogeochemical, and ecosystem research communities to develop research strategies to resolve current limitations, gaps and discrepancies in our understanding and prediction of the Southern Ocean ecosystems, biogeochemical cycles and carbon uptake.
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OtherOcean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Workshop 2009(OCB Project Office, 2009-07)This year's workshop included the following interdisciplinary sessions: The Next U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan: Although the research priorities identified in the 1999 U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan still remain important, a new set of challenges must be addressed in the coming decade, including the effects of human activities on carbon cycling, the sensitivity of ecosystems to changes in carbon cycling and climate, and the efficacy and environmental consequences of carbon management practices. Observing Systems and Time-Series: Ship- and satellite-based ocean observations and time-series form a critical foundation for OCB research. Community planning discussions and input to large-scale national and international planning efforts are essential to ensuring long-term availability of biological, chemical, and ecological data sets that support this research. The Future of OCB Research in the Southern Ocean: The Southern Ocean represents a key system in the global ocean with a critical role in climate and biogeochemical cycles. There is still a troubling level of uncertainty surrounding the impacts of climate change on circulation, CO2 fluxes, productivity, and ecosystem structure in the Southern Ocean. Ocean Acidification: Frontiers in Understanding Physiological and Ecological Responses: Ocean acidification is a high-priority OCB research topic. Recent developments such as the passage of the Federal Ocean Acidification Research And Monitoring Act and the forthcoming NRC report on ocean acidification make this a critical time for soliciting community feedback on new research directions and activities. Implementing Research at the Intersection of Ocean Chemistry and Biology: Two important efforts that advocate for a more integrated observational approach to better address complex feedbacks between ocean chemistry (e.g., micronutrients) and marine ecosystems are currently underway within the OCB-affiliated programs GEOTRACES and SOLAS. NACP/OCB Coastal Interim Synthesis Activities: The objective of the coastal synthesis activities is to stimulate the synthesis and publication of recent observational and modeling results on carbon cycle fluxes and processes along the North American continental margin.
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OtherOcean Carbon and Biogeochemistry News, vol. 3, no. 1(OCB Project Office, 2010)Najjar, R, DE Butman, WJ Cai, MAM Friedrichs, KD Kroeger, A Mannino, PA Raymond, J Salisbury, DC, Vandemark and P Vlahos. Carbon Budget for the Continental Shelf of the Eastern United States: A Preliminary Synthesis.
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OtherOcean Carbon and Biogeochemistry News, vol. 3, no. 2(OCB Project Office, 2010)Mathis, JT and NR Bates. The Marine Carbon Cycle of the Arctic Ocean: Some Thoughts About The Controls on Air-Sea CO2 Exchanges and Responses to Ocean Acidification.
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OtherOcean Carbon and Biogeochemistry News, vol. 3, no. 3(OCB Project Office, 2010)Coble, PG, LL Robbins, KL Daly, and WJ Cai. A Preliminary Carbon Budget for the Gulf of Mexico.
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OtherOcean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Workshop 2010(OCB Project Office, 2010-07)This year’s OCB summer workshop highlighted three interdisciplinary science themes: Arctic, low oxygen regions, and benthic-pelagic coupling. Within these themes, we were especially keen to address nitrogen cycling, ecological tipping points, and strengthened connections between experimentalists and modelers. Arctic: The Arctic is undergoing rapid changes in response to warming, accelerated melting of large ice sheets, and reductions in seasonal sea ice cover. Low Oxygen Regions: Many models are predicting a significant expansion of oxygen minimum zones under the IPCC “business-as-usual” scenario for anthropogenic CO2 emissions, which will affect marine productivity, carbon and nutrient cycling, and food webs. Benthic-Pelagic Coupling: Benthic and pelagic ecosystems are intimately linked by way of biogeochemical cycling and transformation. Benthic-pelagic coupling along continental shelves represents a significant unknown in coastal carbon budgets, and the physical, chemical, and biological processes driving organic carbon export and burial in the open ocean remain poorly characterized.
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OtherSea Change: Charting the course for ecological and biogeochemical ocean time series research(OCB Project Office, 2010-09)Time series are an essential tool for detecting the complex interactions among climate forcing, ecosystem structure and biogeochemical cycling. To date, there are relatively few sites around the world where detailed, high quality, interdisciplinary time series measurements of ocean biogeochemistry are long enough to begin to differentiate longer term climate trends from higher frequency dynamics, such as event to seasonal scale processes.
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OtherThe molecular biology of biogeochemistry : using molecular methods to link ocean chemistry with biological activity(OCB Project Office, 2010-11)This workshop will convene molecular biologists and biogeochemists to determine what genomic and proteomic tools can be applied to important problems in the carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles of the ocean through an understanding of how microbes and primary producers interact with their physical and chemical environment.
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OtherOcean Carbon and Biogeochemistry News, vol. 4, no. 1(OCB Project Office, 2011)Honjo, S and TI Eglinton. Global Biogeochemical Flux Observatory: Tasks, Strategy and Emerging Technologies.
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OtherOcean Carbon and Biogeochemistry News, vol. 4, no. 2(OCB Project Office, 2011)McKinley, G, N Urban, V Bennington, D Pilcher, and C McDonald. Preliminary Carbon Budgets for the Laurentian Great Lakes.