Edward Urban - US grants

ABSTRACT The National Academy of Sciences, through the Ocean Studies Board of the Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources, will convene a colloquium on carbon dioxide and climate change to document the present state of research and knowledge in this field. This colloquium will be held in honor of the late Professor Roger Revelle, a pioneer in assessing anthropogenic effects in the global carbon cycle. This colloquium will be jointly supported by the NAS, DOE, NOAA, NASA and ONR along with NSF.

9809271 Urban The Ocean Studies Board (OSB) will organize and host a symposium in the fall of 1998 to celebrate the history of basic ocean research at the NSF as part of the International Year of the Ocean. In the year following the symposium, a report will be published based on symposium papers supplemented by other background materials and personal histories that will document the progress of ocean sciences over the past 50 years and NSF's role in achieving that progress. The report will not include any recommendations from the Board, although individual authors may express personal opinions.

This award provides funds to the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) for a long-standing program of travel assistance to qualified and active oceanographic researchers from developing countries and nations with economies in transition. SCOR travel grants are awarded to enable such individuals to attend international meetings relevant to their scientific interests and to those of SCOR and the Division of Ocean Sciences of NSF. This ongoing project has become the cornerstone of SCOR's efforts to provide assistance to marine scientists in the third world and, more recently in Russia and Eastern Europe. All recipients of funds are informed that this assistance is made possible through a grant to SCOR from the US National Science Foundation. Project objectives include: broading the participation of scientists from developing countries, eastern Europe, and Russia in international marine science events; encouraging contacts between scientists from the United States and other developed countries with their colleagues in developing countries, and to facilitate the transfer of knowledge in all disciplines of oceanography; making available specialized regional knowledge and expertise at meetings where this is needed, for example, in the planning of regional components of large-scale experiments; and providing opportunities for involvement of developing country scientists in international collaborative programs.

OCE-0245278

Recognizing the need for international coordination of ocean carbon observations, the SCOR-IOC Advisory Panel on Ocean CO2 and the IGBP-IHDP-WCRP Global Carbon Project have initiated a collaborative Pilot Project to (1) gather information about on-going and planned ocean carbon observation activities, (2) identify gaps and duplications in ocean carbon observations, (3) produce recommendations that optimize resources and highlight potential scientific benefits of a coordinated observation program, and (4) promote the integration of ocean carbon observations with appropriate atmospheric and/or terrestrial carbon activities. The information gathered through this collaborative process will be posted on a new Web site devoted to making the information accessible to scientists and policymakers worldwide.

The first activity of the Pilot Project will be a workshop to bring together individuals from different countries who make and use ocean carbon observations, to discuss coordination of underway pCO2 measurements and repeat hydrographic sections, and begin discussions of how these observations can contribute to ocean carbon modeling and research activities. This proposal is to fund the partial or full expenses for 50 individuals to participate in the workshop and to disseminate the results.

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.

The sub-arctic seas, including the Bering Sea, the Barents Sea, the Newfoundland/Labrador Shelf, and th Sea of Okhotsk, support some of the world's most productive fisheries, most of which are based on cod or pollock. With the exception of the Sea of Okhotsk, these seas also exchange water with the Arctic Ocean and, in some cases, modify water and salts as they flow from the North Pacific Ocean or North Atlantic Ocean to the Arctic Ocean. In recent years, it has become evident that these seasonally ice-covered, sub-arctic seas are subject not only to interannual variation but also to decadal-scale and secular changes in climate. Thus, there is a need to assess how global change may affect the marine ecosystems of these sub-arctic seas and their ability to support productive fisheries. An international workshop to assess the potential for developing a major research initiative that could focus on the most profitable approaches to these questions was held in Laguna Beach, California, in early September 2002. The participants in this workshop identified a need for an interdisciplinary, comparative study of the sub-arctic seas and their ability to support fisheries in the context of global change. We propose to convene two workshops to develop a Science Plan for the comparative studies program envisaged by the participants of the Laguna Beach Workshop. The goal of these workshops is to identify and prioritize the most important research questions concerning the potential effects of global change on these sub-arctic ecosystems, and to identify innovative approaches to answering these questions. An important prodcut of the workshops will be the development of a Science Plan that could provide the basis for a Ecosystem Dynamics (GLOBEC) project. (The sub-arctic seas are not currently included in th eGLOBEC project.) The Science Plan will also provide a framework for integration of sub-arctic marine ecosystem studies with the SEARCH (Study of Arctic Environmental Change) program.

Intellectual Merit: Understanding of ocean mixing processes is important for large-scale ocean circulation. A quantitative as well as a qualitative understanding of the interactions among winds and currents, internal waves, seafloor topography and roughness, stratification, and mixing is developing rapidly following a number of process experiments. Interest has heightened over the past few years in tidal interactions with seafloor topography and the ensuing impacts on ocean mixing. This interest stems in part from recent analytical and field results indicating that these interactions can contribute a significant portion of the energy needed to force mixing in ocean basins remote from physical boundaries. A full understanding of this mechanism may enhance our ability to parameterize mixing processes that occur at spatial scales smaller than the grid scales typifying even eddy-resolving ocean general circulation models. This international conference, proposed by a Working Group on Ocean Mixing of the International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans (IAPSO) and the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) will bring together the leading scientists in the field of ocean mixing to serve as a mechanism for the IAPSO/SCOR working group to gather information on recent findings, difficulties involved with parameterization of mixing in numerical ocean models and future directions and opportunities..

Broader Impacts: Improved parameterization schemes may decrease the long-standing, order-of-magnitude disagreement between (1) mixing intensity needed in order for models to behave properly and (2) mixing measured in the ocean. Such improvements in model parameterizations should allow modelers to produce models whose results agree better with observations and result in more accurate and precise predictions of the effects of the ocean on global change. Thus, the proposed activity could have important societal impacts. The findings of the confer3ence will be summarized in a special issue of Deep-Sea Research II that will document the state of the field and make information from the conference available more broadly to physical oceanographers and other ocean scientists who are unable to attend the conference

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. Support of these international activities through SCOR began in 1987. The SCOR provides an international, interdisciplinary, non-governmental focus for ocean research and makes it possible for national ocean science communities to (1) participate in international research projects, (2) identify important ocean science issues and create working groups to address the issues, and (3) participate in capacity-building activities (40% of SCOR national committees are based in developing countries).

Funds provided by NSF for the activities of international Scientific Steering Committees (SSCs) of large-scale ocean research projects ensure SCOR oversight of these projects in terms of SSC membership, terms of reference, and scientific directions and progress. The proposed support from NSF is especially important for SCOR involvement in and oversight of the major ocean projects. Funding is requested for partial support of the SSCs of the Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics (GLOBEC) project, the Surface Ocean ? Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS), the Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (GEOHAB) program, the Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research (IMBER) project, and the GEOTRACES project. These activities also are supported by other international and national sponsors.

Broader Impacts

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.

Abstract

The Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR), Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, and International Geosphere - Biosphere Programme (IGBP) have formed an international committee to plan the Third Symposium on The Ocean in a High-CO2 World. The third symposium will (1) provide a forum for the global community of scientists studying ocean acidification to share their research results through oral and poster presentations; (2) identify priority research topics and approaches for international collaboration through discussion groups; (3) create a summary of the latest research results for policymakers, and (4) create a special issue of a peer-reviewed journal and a scientific summary to disseminate the results of the symposium to the broader ocean science community and make the results available for assessments such as that of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The symposium will be hosted by a consortium of institutions in Monterey, California in autumn 2012. The planning committee will consider topics identified by national research communities, such as the priority areas identified by NSF through responses to its solicitation of first-year Ocean Acidification proposals- molecular/cellular, high latitude, and paleoceanographic aspects of ocean acidification - and priorities identified by the National Research Council report Ocean Acidification: A National Strategy to Meet the Challenges of a Changing Ocean. Funding will emphasize support for early career scientists, students and scientists from under-represented groups.

This award provides funds to the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) for a long-standing program of travel assistance to qualified and active oceanographic researchers from developing countries and nations with economies in transition. SCOR travel grants are awarded to enable such individuals to attend international meetings relevant to their scientific interests and to those of SCOR and the Division of Ocean Sciences of NSF. This ongoing project has become the cornerstone of SCOR's efforts to provide assistance to marine scientists in the third world and, more recently in Russia and Eastern Europe.

Broader Impacts

The impacts of this activity extend beyond the ocean sciences into other scientific topics by stimulating scientific progress in developing countries. In many cases, personal connections and collaborations that can result from contacts made through these travel grants can have long-lasting effects both in international activities as well as in the developing country?s science communities as the individuals involved rise through the ranks of science and science policy.

Support 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. Support of these international activities through SCOR began in 1987. The SCOR provides an international, interdisciplinary, non-governmental focus for ocean research and makes it possible for national ocean science communities to (1) participate in international research projects, (2) identify important ocean science issues and create working groups to address the issues, and (3) participate in capacity-building activities (40% of SCOR national committees are based in developing countries). Funding in this request provides partial support for SCOR Working Group activities, and international projects such as International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP), GlobalHAB, Surface Ocean - Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS), Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research (IMBER), and GEOTRACES. These activities also are supported by other international and national sponsors.

These major programs have origins in US 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.

This award provides funds to the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) for a long-standing program of travel assistance to qualified and active oceanographic researchers and early-career scientists from developing countries and nations with economies in transition. SCOR travel grants are awarded to enable such individuals to attend international meetings relevant to their scientific interests and to those of SCOR and the Division of Ocean Sciences of NSF. This ongoing project has become the cornerstone of SCOR's efforts to provide assistance to marine scientists in the developing countries and with economies in transition for example eastern European nations and the Commonwealth of Independent States. The impacts of this activity extend beyond the ocean sciences into other scientific topics by stimulating scientific progress in developing countries. In many cases, personal connections and collaborations that can result from contacts made through these travel grants can have long-lasting effects both in international activities as well as in the developing country's science communities as the individuals involved rise through the ranks of science and science policy.

This award provides funds to the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) for a long-standing program of travel assistance to qualified and active oceanographic researchers and early-career scientists from developing countries and nations with economies in transition. NSF support has provided an effective mechanism to establish contacts between oceanographers from the developing and the industrialized countries, including the United States, and to facilitate collaborative efforts.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

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. Support of these international activities through SCOR began in 1987. The SCOR provides an international, interdisciplinary, non-governmental focus for ocean research and makes it possible for national ocean science communities to (1) participate in international research projects, (2) identify important ocean science issues and create working groups to address the issues, and (3) participate in capacity-building activities (40% of SCOR national committees are based in developing countries). Funding in this request provides partial support for SCOR Working Group activities, and international projects such as International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP), Surface Ocean - Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS), Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research (IMBER), and GEOTRACES. These activities also are supported by other international and national sponsors.

These major programs have origins in US 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.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.