B. Turner Distillation
Prepared by P.H. Wiebe
What will be the legacy of GLOBEC NWA?
"The challenge to all prospective investigators is to demonstrate
convincingly that their work leads to a new level of understanding
of the links between the atmosphere, ocean physics, and population
dynamics of marine organisms, in the context of climate change"
(GLOBEC Report #6, p 6)
GLOBEC NWA Hypotheses
1)In situ growth rather than lateral exchange is the dominant
process controlling the abundance of animals on the Bank;
2)Seasonal density stratification over the S flank causes prey
aggregation in the pycnocline and thus increased survival of
predator populations;
3)Temporal changes in mixing and stratification may control the
abundance and spp. composition of phytoplankton which in turn may
result in different rates of growth and production of herbivorous
copepods in well-mixed, frontal, and stratified regions of the Bank;
4)The occurrence of large, episodic exchanges of water and organisms
on/off the Bank contributes to variability in popn abundances;
5)Seasonal density stratification and the processes of turbulent
mixing influence predator-prey encounter rates and thus the growth
and survival of individual organisms;
6) Predation rather than starvation is the dominant source of
mortality of fish larvae; predation rather than advective loss is
the dominant source of mortality of copepods.
Vastly increase our understanding
1)What do you know now about Georges Bank that you didn't know 10 years ago?
If you were to re-write the NWA Implementation Plan (GLOBEC Report
#6) pp 6-24,
what would be different?
Georges Bank book?
"State of Georges Bank" report?
2) How will changing climate/NAO affect GB processes, structure, and function?
The secondary production of ocean ecosystems in the context of a
changing global climate.
Important Events
98/99 recruitment
98 copepods?
Scotian Shelf crossovers
Hydrographic interannual variability
NAO shifts
What are the dominant/controlling processes on Georges Bank?
What larger (basin-scale) processes are at work to determine popn
dyn and secondary production on GB?
How would a climate signal propagate through the GB ecosystem?
"links between the atmosphere, ocean physics, and population
dynamics of marine organisms, in the context of climate change
Predictive capability
What can you predict? On what time/space scales? With what
uncertainty? Who will use these predictions? How will these
predictions be used? Management uses
What GLOBEC results are being used now in fisheries management? How
has GLOBEC improved the management of living marine resources?
Where, when and how often should future measurements be taken to
capture important features of Georges Bank/GoMe? (tie-in with Ocean
Observations) Technology development What GLOBEC technology is
routinely used in NOAA operations now?
Presentation Materials
In early GLOBEC years, Zack and Peter pounded the corridors of
Congress drumming up support for the program
In past COP crises, it was argued that some action/budget
cut/reorganization would be devastating to GLOBEC
Now, it's time to show how support in Congress and saving COP
funding has led to tremendous success in GLOBEC