Report from the International Repeat Hydrography and Carbon Workshop
"Friends of Oxygen on Argo" Group Established
Roger Dargaville Joins the IOCCP Project Office !
Upcoming Ocean Carbon Sessions at AGU and EGU
Ocean Carbon Community Invited to Advise ESA GlobColour Project
Sustained Indian Ocean Biogeochemical and Ecological Research
Symposium to Mark 50th Anniversary of Line P
SCAR-SCOR Southern Ocean Expert Group Report Available

To submit an article or announcement, please contact

Click here for all the past news

Report from the International Repeat Hydrography and Carbon Workshop

JAMSTEC, the IOCCP, and CLIVAR co-hosted an International Repeat Hydrography and Carbon Workshop on November 14-16, at Shonan Village, Japan. This workshop brought together 49 scientists from 11 countries with expertise in carbon, hydrography, tracers, prognostic modelling, data assimilation, the Argo profiling float program, and data and information managers. The goals of the workshop were to assess current ship-based hydrography programs and whether these activities are sufficient to meet science objectives of research programs, and to develop plans for a robust mechanism to compile information and data from ship-based hydrography. After a session of science talks focused on what we have learned about physical oceanography and ocean carbon from post-WOCE hydrographic activities, participants were asked to address two broad categories of questions: "Is the current design of the hydrographic program appropriate to meet science goals?", and "What are the best approaches for compilation, synthesis, and interpretation of international data sets?".

What emerged was the need for a more coordinated ship-based hydrography program that focuses not only on monitoring decadal changes but also is capable of addressing new research issues, and to set up a system of regular data synthesis and interpretation activities that are driven by science questions. The participants recognized that any synthesis mechanism that will be developed for the future must address new realities of working within the framework of a sustained observation program. Working within a program with no sunset clause, for example, will require the regular production of scientific products on a timescale that is much shorter than the traditional 10-year approach carried out through global research programs. A sustained repeat hydrography program will need to continually justify its value through publications and data products, and a mechanism for science-driven data syntheses must be developed to address these needs. Participants outlined action items to develop a small advisory group to provide guidance on the development of a more coordinated ship-based hydrography program; to establish closer links with Argo and other ocean-interior observing programs; to improve data and information coordination of existing systems; and to establish synthesis activities around science questions, beginning with the North Atlantic.

Further Reading: International Repeat Hydrography and Carbon Workshop Report (pdf 1.4Mb); For background on the workshop, visit the workshop web-site.

back to top

"Friends of Oxygen on Argo" Group Established

Following the International Repeat Hydrography and Carbon Workshop, a small group (the "Friends of Oxygen on Argo", FOA) was established to develop plans and proposals for a large-scale extension of the current small-scale deployments of Argo floats instrumented with O2 sensors . Polarographic oxygen sensors have been deployed on Argo floats since at least as early as 2002 (link to Argo homepage ). Published studies (Körtzinger et al., 2004, 2005) have also demonstrated the feasibility of a new instrument technology, the optode, which takes advantage of dynamic luminescence of luminophores, which fluoresce with a dependence on the O2 concentration. For example, two prototype oxygen optode instruments were deployed on autonomous floats in the Labrador Sea in September 2003 and data collected over the following year showed very promising results demonstrating the required accuracy and stability (Körtzinger et al., 2004). In fact, several groups have successfully deployed Argo float with both types of O2-sensors, bringing the total number of O2 sensors on floats to over 60. The plan is to build on these small pilot projects and scale them up to a large internationally coordinated project for the benefit of the physical and biogeochemical communities alike.

O2 measurements are useful because surface waters equilibrate quickly with atmospheric oxygen and typically are very close to equilibrium when transported into the ocean interior. Once isolated from the atmosphere, dissolved O2 is removed through respiration of organic matter and thus reflects the balance between ventilation rates and organic matter supply. Together with conservative tracers, oxygen has long been used as a key water mass tracer. It has also been used as a measure of biological activity and is a critical proxy for empirical fits estimating dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentrations in the ocean.

Model predictions indicate that the currently observed warming of the ocean makes the ocean a source of O2 to the atmosphere, i.e. leading to a depletion of the oxygen inventory of the ocean (Joos et al., 2003). A comparison of recent measurements of oxygen in the ocean with those from the past indeed suggest a decrease in the oceanic O2 content, but the data are too sparse and too intermittent to draw large-scale conclusions from them. A significant loss of O2 from the oceans would have important implications for the partitioning of ocean and terrestrial CO2 fluxes, because this partitioning is based on measurements of the atmospheric O2/N2 ratios and the assumption that the net air-sea exchange flux of oxygen is negligible when averaged over a few years. A network of oxygen profiles would therefore greatly aid the quantification of the ocean O2 source, as well as variability of the ocean circulation and biological activity.

Led by Nicolas Gruber (UCLA), FOA will produce a white paper to present the utility and practicality of adding O2 sensors to a portion of the Argo array as a pilot project. Issues such as the number of sensors required, interpretation of the resulting data, and technical issues including the sensor design, calibration accuracy and stability, power usage, satellite communication requirements, and additional cost will be addressed. The Argo Chair and Project Coordinator welcome and support this initiative. Inquires and expression of interest should be sent to Nicolas Gruber (ngruber@igpp.ucla.edu).

Joos, F., G.-K. Plattner, T. F. Stocker, A. Körtzinger and D. Wallace (2003), Trends in marine dissolved oxygen: Implications for ocean circulation changes and the carbon budget. EOS, 84, 197-204.
Körtzinger, A., J. Schimanski, U. Send and D. Wallace (2004), The ocean takes a deep breath, Science, 306, doi: 10.1126/science.1102557.
Körtzinger, A., J. Schimanski and U. Send (2005). High Quality Oxygen Measurements from Profiling Floats: A Promising New Technique, J. of Atmos. and Oceanic Tech., 22, doi: 10.1175/JTECH1701.1

back to top

Roger Dargaville Joins the IOCCP Project Office !

Following the agreements between the IOCCP sponsors, SCOR and IOC, to make the IOCCP a standing project with a broadened mandate, NSF has funded a second project coordinator to work with Maria Hood on the coordination of the project. Roger Dargaville commenced the post at the start of January 2006, and will focus on issues regarding surface pCO2 and repeat hydrography as well as running the IOCCP web portal and newsletters.

Roger hails from Australia, and his expertise lies in the modelling of atmospheric transport of CO2, and deducing CO2 fluxes (both oceanic and terrestrial) by inverse methods. He has also has studied physical chemistry and physical oceanography. Many years ago Roger assisted Bronte Tilbrook on two WOCE Southern Ocean cruises aboard the Aurora Australis, and worked as a postdoc with Scott Doney at NCAR before moving to France 3 years ago. The past 12 months he worked with Philippe Ciais and Berrien Moore (co-chairs) as the coordinator of the Carbon theme of the Integrated Global Observing Strategy (IGOS), where Maria Hood and Scott Doney provided the bulk of the input on ocean carbon observations. Plans are afoot to create an office at UNESCO to coordinate the implementation of the Carbon Theme Implementation Plan. Roger is looking forward to getting to know the ocean carbon community, and working towards an integrated observation and research network. He can be contacted by email on r.dargaville@unesco.org and by phone on +33 1 45 68 39 86.

back to top

Upcoming Ocean Carbon Sessions at AGU and EGU

AGU Ocean Science meeting, 20-24 February 2006, Honolulu, Hawaii

Summary of carbon cycle talks (not exhaustive)
http://www.agu.org/meetings/os06/?content=program

Observations of Anthropogenic Climate Change in the Oceans and Their Implications for Society
OS14B 01 (Orr), 04 (Welschmeyer), 05 (Langdon), 06 (Caldera)

Advances in the study of Carbon Cycling on Continental Margins
OS22B 01 (Goni)
OS25G 01 (Peeler), 02 (Sharp), 03 (Huang), 04 (Manalo), 10 (Stramski), 23 24
OS32D 01 (Yoder), 03 (Farmer), 04 (Duarte), 05 (Thunell), 06 (Ianson)
OS33D 01 (Atkinson), 02 (Dowell), 03 (Friederich), 04 (Gruber), 05 (Fennel), 06 (Rice)

The Agulhas Current System: Sources, Sinks, Variability, and Influence
OS22C 06 (Mathis)

Advances in the study of Carbon Cycling on Continental Shelves
OS23C 02 (Wozniak), 04 (Mannino), 05 (Chen), 06 (Cai)
OS24A 01 (Falkowski), 02 (Muller-Karger) 05 (Miller)
OS35G 01 (Murray), 06 (Smith), 07 (Newberger), 08 (Park), 09 (Jiang), 10 (Bent)….

Effects of Changjiang and Other Big Rivers on the Carbon Cycling in Adjacent Continental Margins
OS22O 04 (Hsieh), 05 (Tseng), 06 (Wang)

High-Latitude Ocean Dynamics and Biogeochemistry
OS23G 01 (Watson), 05 (Ito), 05 (Lenton), 06 (Mignone)

The Indian Ocean: Recent Discoveries, Links to Global Climate, Atmosphere-Ocean Interaction, and Physical and Biogeochemical Response
OS23M 02 (Bates), 03 (Swathi)
OS26K 18 (Pequignet)

Connecting Ecosystem Processes With Climate Models: What Is Missing to Complete This Linkage?
OS34A 01 (Legendre), 02 (Lance),

Ships and Other Platforms of Opportunity as Tools for Ocean Observation
OS34J 03 (Cosca), 04 Millero

Role of Ocean Biota in Carbon Flux
OS43G 01 (Bopp), 02 (Garcon), 05 (Dore)
OS44G 01 (Williams), 02 (Juranek), 03 (Calleja), 05 (John), 06 (Westberry)

Feedbacks Between Marine Biogeochemical Cycles and Climate
OS44A 01 (Follows), 06 (Schmittner)
OS45B 04 (Dutkiewicz), 05 (Mekik), 09 (Chierici), 10 (Izumi), 12 (Hofmann), 13 (Mouchet) … and several others…

Decadal Variations in Ocean Interior Circulation and Biogeochemistry: Results From the CLIVAR/CO2 Repeat Hydrography Program
OS45F 01 (Lo Monaco), 11 (Murata), 14 (Sanatan-Casiano)
OS52C 01 (Wannikhof), 02 (Wallace), 03 (Sonnerup), 04 (Levine),05 (Tilbrook), 06 (Rodgers)

Ocean Sensors, Sensor Networks, and Cyberinfrastructure Communication
OS53B 05 (Wood), 06 (Emerson)

EGU General Assembly, April 2-7 2006, Vienna

Summary of Carbon related sessions (details of individual talks not yet available) and the convenors.
http://meetings.copernicus.org/egu2006/

OS4 Operational Oceanography and Data assimilation
Proctor, R., Coelho, E

OS5/6 Open Session on Marine Biogeochemical Cycles (including Outstanding Young Scientist Lecture)
Robinson, C. Salihoglu, B.; Garcon, V.; Soerensen, L

OS7 Ocean Carbon Source and Sink Assessments (co-listed in BG)
Wallace, D, Wanninkhof, R.; Heinze, C.; Hood, M.; Bakker, D.

OS13 Ocean Model Development: Physical and Biological (co-listed in BG)
Schröter, J, Oschlies, A

AS2.02 Air-Sea Interactions (General Session) (co-listed in OS)
Makin, V. Wells, N

BG1.08 Remote sensing for marine biogeochemical studies (co-listed in OS)
Bakker, D, Boutin, J.

BG3.01 Coastal biogeochemistry and its response to anthropogenic perturbations: inputs, gas exchange, carbon and nutrient cycling (co-listed in OS)
Thomas, H, Borges, A

BG6.02 Ocean acidification: chemistry, paleo-analogues, response of organisms and ecosystems, and modelling (co-listed in OS)
Gattuso, J, Kleypas, J.; Riebesell, U.; Orr, J.

BG6.03/NP6.06 Coupling biogeochemistry and ecology to fluid dynamics in aquatic ecosystems (co-sponsored by NP) (co-listed in OS)
Berdalet, E, Battin, T.; Marrase, C.; Piera, J.; Richards, K.; Seuront, L.; Van Steenhoven, A.

CL021 Past, Present and Future Changes in Ocean Circulation: Data and Models (co-listed in OS) (including Milutin Milankovitch Medal Lecture and Outstanding Young Scientitst Lecture)
Rahmstorf, S., Waelbroeck, C.; Marchal, O

CL022 Atmospheric pCO2 and Ocean carbonate chemistry dynamics on glacial interglacial timescale (co-listed in BG, CR & OS)
Bijma, J., Ridgwell, A

For a print friendly version click here (20Kb)

back to top

Ocean Carbon Community Invited to Advise ESA GlobColour Project

Sick of permanently switching from SeaWiFS to MERIS or MODIS ocean color products to validate your favorite ocean carbon model ? GlobCOLOUR, a 3-year project funded by the European Space Agency, will provide you, in 2008, with a single coherent 10-year archive of global chlorophyll concentrations that merges data from all sensors.

The GlobColour project aims to develop and demonstrate an EO-based service supporting global ocean carbon-cycle research. An understanding of the cycling of carbon by the ocean biosphere is critical for developing scientifically based response to the sequestration of anthropogenic carbon emissions. ESA has one mission aboard ENVISAT: the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer Instrument (MERIS), NASA has three missions in orbit to assess ocean biological processes by measuring the colour of the sea , the Sea-viewing Wide Field of view Sensor (SeaWiFS) and two flight models of the Moderate Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) on the Terra and Aqua Earth Observing System (EOS) missions and CNES has now launched a new POLDER on board Parasol. In the coming years, the VIIRS, on the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) will be deployed while ESA will deploy the Sentinel GMES-1 mission. In addition to ESA and NASA, several international space agencies have planned and deployed satellite ocean colour missions. As of today, there are 12 moderate resolution ocean colour imagers in orbit (www.ioccg.org/sensors/500m.html) although many of these are pilot missions and do not produce research quality data. Clearly, there are many ocean colour data products for researchers, educators, students and policy makers to choose from.

These ocean colour missions have been developed to answer many of the most basic questions of how the ocean biosphere operates. Is the amount of vegetal biomass in the ocean increasing or decreasing in time? What is the role of climate change on the ocean biosphere? How do anthropogenic processes (in particular increasing atmospheric CO2) influence the ocean biosphere and can these changes be detected? It seems obvious that better ocean colour data products will come from the merging of different data sets:

1. Different satellites following specific orbits observe clouds in different times and locations. Hence, one would expect coverage to improve by merging data sets (e.g., Gregg and Woodward, 1998);

2. The precision of merged data products will also increase simply due to the small sample statistics (once inter-satellite calibration issues are resolved).

The differences and similarities of the spectral observations can be taken advantage of in the merging process leading to improved accuracy and measurable uncertainties (e.g., Siegel, 1998; Maritorena et al. 2002). Finally, the merging process must be well justified and documented so all users understand its implications. The latter points to the importance of unified climate data records of ocean colour products with measured and documented uncertainties where the merging process is transparent for all users.

The project will provide scientists with a long time-series of consistently calibrated global ocean colour information, according to requirements specified by the global ocean colour user community, as represented by the user group. GLOBCOLOUR will also put in place the capacity to continue the ocean colour service in the future. The IOCCP, working with the International Ocean-Colour Coordinating Group, will serve as links between the ocean carbon community and this project, to provide input into the development of the data products to ensure they are useful for the ocean carbon community. The IOCCP focal point for this activity is Cyril Moulin. Please contact Cyril (cyril.moulin@cea.fr) for details, questions or suggestions about GlobCOLOUR products.

Further reading: visit the GlobColour web-site for full information about this project

back to top

Sustained Indian Ocean Biogeochemical and Ecological Research Workshop

Goa, India, 3-6 October, 2006

The SIBER Workshop will convene an international, interdisciplinary group of scientists at the National Institute of Oceanography in Goa, India to:
· Review the state of our knowledge and scientific understanding of the biogeochemical and ecological dynamics of the Indian Ocean in relation to physical oceanographic variability;
· Identify prominent gaps in our understanding especially as they pertain to the role of physical and ecological processes in regulating biogeochemical cycles and the carbon cycle in particular;
· Formulate a plan for the implementation of a biogeochemical and ecological observational and modeling research program that leverages and substantially enhances the planned CLIVAR/GOOS Indian Ocean observing system. The SIBER Workshop is designed to elicit maximum interaction among the participants.

For More information visit the SIBER homepage

back to top

Symposium to Mark 50th Anniversary of Line P

Time Series of the Northeast Pacific: A symposium to mark the 50th anniversary of Line-P
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, July 5-8, 2006.

As one of the longest running ocean time series in the world, Ocean Station Papa (OSP; 50°N and 145°W) represents a unique dataset that has improved our understanding of ocean processes. Meteorological and surface ocean sampling from a weather ship at OSP began in 1949. In 1956, observations were initiated at stations along a line between the coast of British Columbia and OSP. Since then, surveys along this line, now called Line-P, have been undertaken several times each year. Line-P is, however, only one of the ocean time series of the N.E. Pacific, and previous research has benefited from comparisons among the various time series.

This symposium, sponsored by Fisheries & Oceans Canada and the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES), will celebrate 50 years of oceanography along Line-P and at OSP. The workshop on the last day will explore the scientific value of both Line-P and the time series of the N.E. Pacific in general.

For details and abstract submission visit the meeting homepage.
Convenor contact: Angelica Peña, penaa@pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca
Important dates: Abstract submission closes on March 15, 2006, Pre-registration closes on June 4, 2006.

back to top

SCAR-SCOR Southern Ocean Expert Group Report Available

The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and SCOR sponsor a joint Oceanography Expert Group. The group met in October and the report from their meeting is now available. Many global research projects are mentioned in the report, which provides recommendations about Southern Ocean research and observations. The Expert Group's Web site can be found at: http://www.clivar.org/organization/southern/expertgroup/index.htm

Further Reading: SCAR-SCOR Southern Ocean Expert Group Report (Word 133Kb)

back to top