Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Workshop 2011

Abstract

Trends, Thresholds, and Tipping Points in Marine Ecosystems: The oceans represent one of the largest and most active carbon reservoirs on the planet. With atmospheric CO2 levels on the rise, there is serious concern about the physical, chemical, and biological impacts of continued oceanic uptake of anthropogenic CO2. When combined with other environmental stressors such as greenhouse warming, decreasing oxygen levels, pollution, etc., this carbon reservoir is particularly susceptible to rapid, nonlinear shifts in biogeochemistry, physical circulation, and biology that could fundamentally change the global carbon cycle as we know it.

OCB and U.S. CLIVAR: Given the overlapping scientific and observational interests of the two programs, the goals are to explore science issues of common interest and identify initial high-priority research topics that may lead to joint activities (e.g., the formation of focused working groups) between U.S. CLIVAR and OCB researchers over the next decade.

Toward the Implementation of a Global Autonomous Biogeochemical Observing System: The challenge of understanding the ocean’s role in the global carbon cycle and its response to a changing environment requires an expanded scale of observation in both space and time.