Synthesis Questions:

The final undertaking of the workshop was a quite general discussion of the nature of topics that should be addressed during the synthesis phase (IV) of US GLOBEC. Three questions were suggested:

   1)    What drives the interannual variability of Scotian Shelf cross-overs? What variables have reflect such variations and how do they co-vary with other parameters?. What indications are there for local or remote forcing of Scotian Shelf cross-overs?

   2)    What is the impact of the Scotian Shelf cross-overs on the target species within the Georges Bank ecosystem?

   3)    In the tidal mixing zone, what is the role of cross-frontal exchange in terms of the distribution, abundance, and rate processes affecting the target species on the Bank? This applies both to the role of the exchange in maintaining the Bank's ecosystem as well as to perturbations of the system.

Much of the discussion of first two questions had already taken place and has been summarized in the previous section (Discussion Questions #2, 3, 4). The final synthesis topic raised some interesting points regarding the impact of cross-frontal exchange on the Bank's ecosystem.