U.S. GLOBEC Georges Bank Phase II Planning Meeting

This meeting will bring together scientists who intend to submit proposals by the January 15, 1996 deadline specified in the recent RFP issued by NSF and NOAA. The primary objective of the U.S. GLOBEC Georges Bank program is to understand the physical and biological processes that control the abundance of target animal populations in space and time on the Bank. The second phase of field work will begin in January 1997 with a focus on the processes associated with source, retention, and loss of water and organisms as they impact the population dynamics of the target species (cod, haddock, and the copepods, Calanus finmarchicus and Pseudocalanus spp.) on Georges Bank. The broad scale studies, which will continue, include shipboard surveys to determine the distribution and abundance of the target organisms in relation to their physical environment over the pelagic period of cod and haddock larvae, long-term mooring-based observations, and interpretation of regional satellite data. Close cooperation and interaction between the broad-scale and process- oriented components of the program are essential. One of the objectives of this meeting is to ensure that this integration continues during Phase II of the project.

Among the research questions to be addressed are the following:

• What is the subtidal circulation over the Bank and how does it evolve in time from December to August? What physical processes (e.g., tidal, buoyancy, wind) determine the density field and drive the subtidal circulation, and do their relative contributions change with time? What time and space scales characterize these processes and the resulting subtidal circulation?
• What physical processes dominate the cross-isobath transport over different parts of the Bank, both in the bottom-boundary layer and the rest of the water column? What time and space scales characterize the cross-isobath transport? Does the nature of cross-isobath transport change with stratification?
• What physical processes contribute to recirculation of water around the western end of the Bank? Where and on what time scales does recirculation occur? Is recirculation primarily chronic or episodic? What processes disrupt recirculation, and how is it re-established? Does recirculation exhibit a clear seasonal cycle, with little or no recirculation in the well-mixed winter and strong recirculation in the highly stratified summer? Does recirculation occur throughout the year in the well-mixed water over the top of the Bank?
• What is the on- and off-bank flow driven by different wind events? Where does this occur and on what time and space scales? Is the directly wind-driven flow concentrated in the surface boundary layer, and if so, how does this interact with the Bank topography? Is there any compensatory flow at depth and, if so, where does it occur? How does the nature of the wind-driven response change with different characteristic storms, season and stratification? Does the interaction between vertical current shear and vertical migration of the target species permit them to be retained on the Bank?
• How often do Gulf Stream warm-core rings entrain shelf water from the Bank? Do rings force Slope Water onto the Bank? How large are these cross-isobath transports and are there preferential sites and times for these bank-ring interactions?
• How do the physical flow processes identified above influence the retention and exchange of target species on the Bank? Which physical and biological (behavioral) processes are most important for keeping different target species on the Bank during key stages in their early life histories? Which processes are most important in causing exchange of different target species from the Bank? How do these various processes change with time from December to August? Can the exchange of organisms from the Bank be measured and quantified?
• What are the life history, physiological, and genetic characteristics of target species populations in the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, and Slope Water? How readily can populations from these different regions be discriminated?
• Is the Gulf of Maine the source region for seeding populations of major planktonic species on Georges Bank and does the source level abundance play a major role in determining the peak population size on the Bank?
• How do physiological and genetic characteristics of planktonic populations in these regions change over time (generationally, seasonally, inter-annually)?

Planning for the meeting is now underway. A two-day meeting will be held at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, 101 Academy Drive, Buzzards Bay, MA 02532. Please indicate your intention to attend this meeting to Bob Groman, Program Administrator, U.S. GLOBEC Georges Bank Program, Woods Hole, MA, 02543 [email: rgroman@whoi.edu; Phone: 508-289-2409]. You will then receive additional updates and information about the meeting.

It is strongly recommended that participants review the program's background documents before the meeting. The objectives of the U.S. GLOBEC Program have been articulated by the U.S. GLOBEC Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) in the U.S. GLOBEC Initial Science Plan (available as U.S. GLOBEC report no. 1, February 1991). Background information pertinent to the Northwest Atlantic can be found in U.S. GLOBEC report no. 2, February 1991, entitled "GLOBEC: Northwest Atlantic Program, GLOBEC U.S./Canada Meeting on Northwest Atlantic Fisheries and Climate". Prospective investigators should refer to the Implementation Plan for U.S. GLOBEC NW Atlantic/Georges Bank Study, report no. 6, June 1992. All three reports are available from the U.S. GLOBEC Office, Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720. Some of these documents are online through the World Wide Web at "http://www.usglobec.org/ usglobec/globec.homepage.html" and "http://globec.whoi.edu". In addition, a report of the recent U.S. GLOBEC Georges Bank Scientific Investigators meeting (16-18 October 1995), which provides summaries of research activities during Phase I of the program, will soon be available on line at the latter address.

It is further recommended that groups of individuals with common interests get together before the meeting and be prepared to present their ideas for research activities in a coordinated fashion.

For those who wish to stay overnight near the meeting site, there is the Best Western Bridge Bourne Hotel located within a couple minutes drive from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Rooms should cost under $60 per night including tax. Their phone number is 1-800-675-0008.