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OAS project Detail for OCB-SOFeX
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projects_id: 642
Code:
Acronym: OCB-SOFeX
Name: Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry; Southern Ocean Iron Experiment
Native Name:
Funding Institutions:
Funding Organization (deprecated): NSF
Country:
Country (deprecated):
Comments: PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry Iron Synthesis (OCB FeSynth)The Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry program is not an ocean research program in the traditional sense. OCB Project Office staff members, working at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and OCB Steering Committee members work together with research investigators to achieve the overall program goals including promotion, planning, and coordination of collaborative, multidisciplinary research opportunities within the U.S. research community and with international partners.

OCB Mission: to establish the evolving role of the ocean in the global carbon cycle, in the face of environmental change, through studies of marine biogeochemical cycles and associated ecosystems

OCB Overarching Science Themes:
Improve understanding and prediction of:
1) oceanic uptake and release of atmospheric CO2 and other greenhouse gases;
2) climate-sensitivities of biogeochemical cycles and interactions with ecosystem structure.

Research Priorities (2010):
- Ocean acidification
- Terrestrial/coastal carbon fluxes and exchanges
- Climate sensitivities of and change in ecosystem structure and associated impacts on biogeochemical cycles
- Mesopelagic ecological and biogeochemical interactions
- Benthic-pelagic feedbacks on biogeochemical cycles
- Ocean carbon uptake and storage
- Expanding low-oxygen conditions in the coastal and open oceans

The two main objectives of the Iron Synthesis program (SCOR Working Group proposal, 2005), are:
1. Data compilation: assembling a common open-access database of the in situ iron experiments, beginning with the first period (1993-2002; Ironex-1, Ironex-2, SOIREE, EisenEx, SEEDS-1; SOFeX, SERIES) where primary articles have already been published, to be followed by the 2004 experiments where primary articles are now in progress (EIFEX, SEEDS-2; SAGE, FeeP); similarly for the natural fertilizations S.O.JGOFS (1992), CROZEX (2004/2005) and KEOPS (2005).

2. Modeling and data synthesis of specific aspects of two or more such experiments for various topics such as physical mixing, phytoplankton productivity, overall ecosystem functioning, iron chemistry, CO2 budgeting, nutrient uptake ratios, DMS(P) processes, and combinations of these variables and processes.

SCOR Working Group proposal, 2005. "The Legacy of in situ Iron Enrichments: Data Compilation and Modeling".
http://www.scor-int.org/Working_Groups/wg131.htm ()
See also: SCOR Proceedings Vol. 42 Concepcion, Chile October 2006, pgs: 13-16 2.3.3 Working Group on The Legacy of in situ Iron Enrichments: Data Compilation and Modeling.

The first objective of the Iron Synthesis program involves a data recovery effort aimed at assembling a common, open-access database of data and metadata from a series of in-situ ocean iron fertilization experiments conducted between 1993 and 2005. Initially, funding for this effort is being provided by the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF).

Through the combined efforts of the principal investigators of the individual projects and the staff of Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO), data currently available primarily through individuals, disparate reports and data agencies, and in multiple formats, are being collected and prepared for addition to the BCO-DMO database from which they will be freely available to the community.

As data are contributed to the BCO-DMO office, they are organized into four overlapping categories:
1. Level 1, basic metadata
(e.g., description of project/study, general location, PI(s), participants);
2. Level 2, detailed metadata and basic shipboard data and routine ship's operations
(e.g., CTDs, underway measurements, sampling event logs);
3. Level 3, detailed metadata and data from specialized observations
(e.g., discrete observations, experimental results, rate measurements) and
4. Level 4, remaining datasets
(e.g., highest level of detailed data available from each study).
Collaboration with BCO-DMO staff began in March of 2008 and initial efforts have been directed toward basic project descriptions, levels 1 and 2 metadata and basic data, with detailed and more detailed data files being incorporated as they become available and are processed.

The Iron Synthesis Program is funded jointly by the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF).

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Southern Ocean Iron Experiment (SOFeX). Before he passed away in 1993, John Martin suggested that an increase in the flow of iron-rich dust to the ocean causes phytoplankton (single celled algae) to grow. The increased photosynthesis removes carbon dioxide from surface waters as the algae create biomass. This carbon dioxide is replaced by carbon dioxide gas that flows into the sea from the atmosphere. Reduced carbon dioxide in the atmosphere cools the planet (CO2 is a greenhouse gas that warms the earth). The results of this work, funded by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and the US Coast Guard, will be a much better understanding of how biological processes may regulate climate. (see
Related Info: Fe cycle)

A direct test of the 'Martin Hypothesis' that trace concentrations of Fe are responsible for phytoplankton's ability to grow by direct experimental addition of Fe to the surface waters. Consequently the distribution of bioavailable Fe in the surface waters determines large geographical areas primary production and the following flux of fixed organic matter to the deep sea. The aim of the SOFeX project is to investigate the effects of iron fertilization on the productivity of the Southern Ocean. The results of this work will contribute significantly to our understanding of important biogeochemical processes which bear directly on the global carbon cycle, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, and climate control.

The SOFeX-N and SOFeX-S designations are sometimes used to distinguish between two iron enriched patches - one in low silicate waters north of the polar front (SOFEX-N), and the other in high silicate waters south of the polar front (SOFEX-S).

All three ships, Melville (MV), Revelle (RR) and Polar Star (PS), worked in SOFEX-S, but only the Revelle and Melville worked in the SOFeX N patch and shuttled between the two patches.

DEPLOYMENT DESCRIPTION for R/V Melville: Brief cruise plan description: Three ships were involved in the SOFeX experiment. Each ship operated in the study area at a different time to afford the longest observation time. The designations SOFeX-N and SOFeX-S are sometimes used to distinguish between two iron enriched patches - one in low silicate waters north of the polar front (SOFEX-N), and the other in high silicate waters south of the polar front (SOFEX-S). All three ships, Melville (MV), Revelle (RR) and Polar Star (PS), worked in SOFEX-S, but only the Revelle and Melville worked in the SOFeX N patch and shuttled between the two patches.

The R/V MELVILLE sailed several weeks after the R/V REVELLE to arrive in the study area just as the 'patches' were forming in response to iron fertilization. The MELVILLE's team planned to make detailed measurements of phytoplankton physiology and rate processes, and to sample daily for phytoplankton growth rates and biomass, soluble and particulate iron and zooplankton biomass. A cruise logbook includes daily entries filed by the Chief Scientist aboard each vessel.
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Keydate: 2012-03-12 17:15:15+00
Editdate: 2015-05-15 13:19:58+00