SSC Nominations

## Nominations Requested for U.S. GLOBEC Scientific Steering Committee

The Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) of U.S. GLOBEC is seeking nominations for new members. The program is especially interested in adding members that have expertise in 1) physical oceanography, esp. of the North Pacific, 2) fish larval ecology, and 3) climatology/climate dynamics, but nominees may be from any discipline within oceanography or fisheries science that is pertinent to the goals of the U.S. GLOBEC program. Following U.S. GLOBEC procedures, the Executive Committee of the SSC will select candidates from those nominated. Election to the Scientific Steering Committee is by vote of the full SSC.

### NOMINATION PROCEDURES.

We are requesting that oceanographers and fisheries scientists nominate qualified individuals for vacancies on the Scientific Steering Committee. We are seeking experienced scientists with strong records of research achievement. Potential nominees should be acquainted with interdisciplinary activities in which the joint interplay of physical and biological processes are pursued. The Executive Committee will ask nominees to submit a brief statement (a paragraph or two) on their interest in, and qualifications for, scientific leadership of the U.S. GLOBEC program. Moreover, the nominees will be asked to submit a short C.V. (similar to that now required by N.S.F. in grant proposals) that lists, among other items, recent publications that are pertinent to U.S. GLOBEC activities.

Individuals may nominate themselves or other scientists. However, election/selection etiquette demands that those nominating others alert their potential candidates, and determine, in advance, that these candidates are willing to stand for (s)election to the SSC. Furthermore, the nominators should ascertain that their nominees are informed about the U.S. GLOBEC program, and that they (the nominees) are willing to submit the requisite statement and C.V. (see above) when asked.

The deadline for receipt of nominations and supporting documentation is 1 December 1997. All materials should be sent to:

            Prof. Thomas M. Powell
            Chair, Scientific Steering Committee, U.S. GLOBEC
            Department of Integrative Biology
            University of California
            Berkeley, CA 94720-3140

Materials communicated via electronic mail (zackp@socrates.berkeley.edu) or FAX (510-643-1142) will be accepted.

Those nominated will be informed on or before 15 January 1998 about this years selections.

### DUTIES OF MEMBERS OF THE SSC

Members of the Scientific Steering Committee of U.S. GLOBEC determine the broad outlines of the scientific planning of the program. In addition, they may be involved in a leadership capacity involving some details of specific project activities. Two day meetings of the full SSC occur two times per year. In addition, all members are expected to play major roles on U.S. GLOBEC standing and ad hoc committees. This may include organization of meetings and the writing of reports that are crucial in determining the scientific planning, policy, and progress of the program. Members may also be asked to participate in other activities that promote the endeavor and/or educate the broader community about research opportunities within U.S. GLOBEC. Members are elected to the Steering Committee for three year terms that begin on 1 January.

### U.S. GLOBEC

Several large initiatives are now underway to assess the significance of global climate change upon the oceanic environment -- its physics, biogeochemistry, and ecology. U.S. GLOBEC (GLOBal ocean ECosystems dynamics) is designed to evaluate the likely consequences of the changes in global climate and physics upon the sustainability of animal production in the sea.

The approach of U.S. GLOBEC is to understand how physical processes, both directly and indirectly, influence the success of individual animals in the sea, their feeding, growth, reproduction, and survivorship. It is believed that from this information one can derive the consequences of changing physical processes on animal populations, communities, and ecosystems. Models of global climate can then be used to relate global change to changes in regional ocean physics and, subsequently, changes in regional scale physics to shifts at the scales of events that influence individual organisms. Effects on zooplanktonic life stages will be emphasized because so many marine animals undergo at least one planktonic life stage, and because the planktonic size classes are most at the mercy of the physics of their fluid environment.

U.S. GLOBEC studies involve four major elements: 1) the development of coupled physical/biological models; 2) field studies that incorporate appropriate feedback between the observations and the modeling efforts; 3) retrospective data analysis and 4) the development of new technology and instrumentation to address fundamental processes (i.e., feeding, growth, reproduction, and survivorship) in a varying physical environment.

U. S. GLOBEC presently supports twenty-nine research efforts for phase II studies on the physical-biological dynamics of the Georges Bank ecosystem in the NW Atlantic. Phase II field studies, focused on the source, retention and loss of water and organisms to/from the bank. Proposals for Phase III research on Georges Bank are being solicited currently. Phase III field studies will occur in 1999 and focus on cross-frontal exchanges of water and organisms, modeling and synthesis.

In late November 1996, U.S. GLOBEC in conjunction with the Coastal Ocean Processes program of NSF, released an Announcement of Opportunity (AO) which resulted in 13 projects being selected to begin modeling, retrospective analysis, and pilot monitoring in the northeast Pacific Ocean. This is the first of a series of AOs that will support studies in this region over the next 5-7 years.

Plans are also under development for internationally coordinated field investigations in the Southern Ocean. Several Southern Ocean modeling projects have been funded already. An AO for process-oriented studies in the Southern Ocean is expected to be released during 1998.

U.S. GLOBEC is a joint effort of N.S.F. and N.O.A.A. The project is administered by an Interagency Program Office. Further information about the U.S. GLOBEC program can be obtained from the U.S. GLOBEC Coordination Office web site at:

http://www.usglobec.berkeley.edu/usglobec/globec.homepage.html

The Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) is presently chaired by Prof. Thomas M. Powell; the Coordinating Office of the SSC is located in the Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3140 [phone: 510-642-7455; FAX: 510-643-1142; e-mail: zackp@socrates.berkeley.edu]. All inquiries about U.S. GLOBEC publications should be directed to the SSC Coordinating Office. Those wishing to be placed on the U.S. GLOBEC mailing list should contact Ms. Kay Goldberg at the SSC Coordinating Office (kaygold@uclink4.berkeley.edu).