Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry
Studying marine ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles in the face of environmental change
  • Home
  • About OCB
    • About Us
    • Get Involved
    • Project Office
    • Code of Conduct
    • Scientific Steering Committee
    • OCB committees
      • Ocean Time-series
      • US Biogeochemical-Argo
      • Ocean-Atmosphere Interaction
    • Scientific Breadth
      • Biological Pump
      • Changing Marine Ecosystems
      • Changing Ocean Chemistry
      • Estuarine and Coastal Carbon Fluxes
      • Ocean Carbon Uptake and Storage
      • Ocean Observatories
  • Activities
    • OCB Webinar Series
    • Summer Workshops
    • Scoping Workshops
    • Other Workshops
    • Science Planning
      • Coastal CARbon Synthesis (CCARS)
      • North Atlantic-Arctic
    • Ocean Acidification PI Meetings
    • Training Activities
  • Small Group Activities
    • Aquatic Continuum OCB-NACP Focus Group
    • CMIP6 WG
      • CMIP6 Models Workshop
    • Filling the gaps air–sea carbon fluxes WG
    • Fish Carbon WG
      • Fish Carbon WG Workshop
      • Fish carbon workshop summary
    • GO-BCG OCB-US CLIVAR Scoping Workshop
    • Lateral Carbon Flux in Tidal Wetlands
    • Metaproteomic Intercomparison
    • Mixotrophs & Mixotrophy WG
    • N-Fixation WG
    • Ocean Carbonate System Intercomparison Forum
    • Ocean Carbon Uptake WG
    • Ocean Nucleic Acids ‘Omics
    • OOI BGC sensor working group
    • Phytoplankton Taxonomy WG
  • Science Support
    • Data management and archival
    • Early Career
    • Funding Sources
    • Jobs & Postdocs
    • Meeting List
    • OCB topical websites
      • Ocean Fertilization
      • Trace gases
      • US IIOE-2
    • Outreach & Education
    • Promoting your science
    • Student Opportunities
    • OCB Activity Proposal Solicitations
    • Travel Support
  • Publications
    • Ocean Carbon Exchange
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Science Planning and Policy
    • OCB Workshop Reports
  • OCB Science Highlights
  • News

A Report from the 2016 OCB Summer Workshop July 25-28, 2016 (Woods Hole, MA)

Posted by mmaheigan 
· Wednesday, October 19th, 2016 

The 11th annual Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry summer workshop, sponsored by NSF and NASA, convened 186 participants from July 25-28, 2016 at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, MA.

This year’s summer workshop featured the following six plenary sessions:

Plenary 1. EXport Processes in the Ocean from RemoTe Sensing (EXPORTS)
Plenary 2. The biology of carbon export – New processes and approaches
Plenary 3. Recent advances in quantifying ocean carbon uptake
Plenary 4. Quantifying ocean carbon, oxygen, and nutrient cycles
Plenary 5. The Indian Ocean – Monsoon-driven biogeochemical processes
Plenary 6. Marine ecosystem thresholds and regime shifts

Day 1 kicked off with a presentation on the projected instrumentation and scientific capabilities of the NASA Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and ocean Ecosystems (PACE) Mission, which segued into the first plenary session on the proposed NASA EXport Processes in the Ocean from RemoTe Sensing (EXPORTS) field campaign. Speakers in this session provided an overview of both the EXPORTS Science Plan and the Implementation Plan. The session also featured three scientific overview talks on the EXPORTS science questions, the first of which highlighted the influence of ecosystem characteristics such as plankton community structure on organic matter export from the euphotic zone. The second talk focused on key processes in the mesopelagic zone that affect vertical transfer of organic matter to depth.

The third talk focused on how data generated by EXPORTS will reduce uncertainties in current and future estimates of export, including an overview of current modeling capabilities for different export pathways. The second plenary session of Day 1 was convened by  organizers of a recent NSF workshop and white paper on novel biological processes and pathways regulating organic matter export and degradation. Speakers in this session explored potential contributions of mixotrophs, marine microgels, and episodic events (e.g., jelly falls) to biological pump function, and provided an overview of our current observational capacity to quantify carbon export and monitor changes in the biological pump over a range of temporal and spatial scales. The plenary session closed with a community-sharing presentation describing the Carbon Flux Explorer, an autonomous float that can quantify and photograph particulate carbon fluxes. After the plenary sessions, graduate students provided short presentations about their research interests and then all participants convened for a welcome reception and poster session.

Day 2 opened with agency updates from NSF, NASA, and NOAA representatives. Speakers in plenary session 3 then described data- and model-based approaches for studying internal variability (interannual to decadal) and anthropogenic change in ocean carbon uptake, and explored the role of physical processes (e.g., subduction, mesoscale and submesoscale processes, etc.) in modulating ocean carbon uptake. A presentation on the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) provided an overview of CMIP5 simulations of the ocean carbon cycle and how well these simulations reproduce anthropogenic CO2 uptake and natural variability in ocean CO2 associated with  the biological pump. To provide a broader range of spatial and temporal perspectives, the session included talks on land-ocean exchanges of dissolved carbon across coastal, estuarine, wetland, and riverine systems and differences in ocean carbon storage during the last ice age, as constrained by paleo-proxies of ocean ventilation and deep-sea oxygen concentrations. This session concluded with a community-sharing presentation on Carbon Hot Spot, a nascent process study to characterize biophysical interactions and quantify ocean carbon uptake in Western Boundary Current regions such as the Kuroshio Extension.

During the afternoon of day 2, speakers in plenary session 4 provided an overview of the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling (SOCCOM) project and newly emerging seasonally resolved ocean carbon data sets from biogeochemical sensor-equipped Argo floats, which are providing unprecedented constraints on wintertime air-sea CO2 dynamics in the Southern Ocean. The session concluded with a presentation on the rationale and plan for a global biogeochemical observing network based on Argo floats equipped with biogeochemical sensors to more effectively monitor changing ocean conditions. Immediately following the plenary session, communication professionals from COMPASS led interactive communication training workshops to help participants share their science across a broad range of audiences using various tools, outlets, and communication strategies. Participants reconvened in the evening hours for the inaugural OCB ocean festival, featuring recent documentaries on the Palmer LTER in Antarctica and the CARIACO time-series.

After a morning poster session on day 3, participants enjoyed a presentation and Q&A session on the 2015 UN Climate Conference in Paris. Then speakers in plenary session 5 delivered a series of talks on the complex physical oceanographic and climatic drivers that influence biogeochemistry and biological processes in the Indian Ocean, where scientists are amidst planning for the second International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE2). The session opened with an overview presentation on key physical oceanographic features and observing resources in the Indian Ocean. Speakers then addressed links between physics, climate, and biogeochemical processes such as dissolved organic carbon (DOC) distribution and dynamics, iron limitation, trace metal cycling and measurements from GEOTRACES, nitrogen fixation, and oxygen deficiency in different parts of the basin and associated effects on biology. The final presentation of the session focused on seasonally variable Indian Ocean boundary currents and their impacts on local ecology and biogeochemistry. Day 3 wrapped up with a presentation by the new US SOLAS (Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study) representative to initiate discussion and brainstorm ideas to facilitate scientific exchanges and new collaborations on topical areas of interest to both OCB and SOLAS.
The final day of the workshop opened with a presentation on the proposed NASA field campaign Arctic-COLORS. The Arctic-COLORS science plan is undergoing revisions, so authors were seeking input from the OCB community. The final plenary session of the workshop, plenary 6, featured a series of talks on marine ecosystem thresholds and regime shifts. In this session, speakers explored phytoplankton response to natural climate variability and anthropogenic climate change (phenology, biogeography, community composition, etc.), implications of climate-driven changes in bloom phenology for higher trophic levels, ecological changes and associated shifts in benthic communities of the Pacific Arctic, and the development of tools such as early warning systems to identify and predict nonlinear shifts in ocean ecosystems. A separate 1.5-day meeting on Arctic-COLORS immediately following the OCB workshop provided an opportunity for more in-depth discussions and opportunities to gather feedback.

For more information, including links to plenary talks and webcast footage, please visit the workshop archive page or contact Heather Benway.

Filter by Keyword

abundance acidification africa air-sea interactions alkalinity allometry ammonium AMOC anoxia anoxic Antarctic anthropogenic carbon aragonite saturation arctic arsenic Atlantic Atlantic modeling atmospheric CO2 atmospheric nitrogen deposition authigenic carbonates autonomous platforms bacteria BATS benthic bgc argo bioavailability biogeochemical cycles biogeochemical models biogeochemistry biological pump biological uptake biophysics bloom blooms blue carbon bottom water boundary layer buffer capacity CaCO3 calcification calcite carbon-climate feedback carbon-sulfur coupling carbon cycle carbon dioxide carbon sequestration Caribbean CCA CCS changing marine ecosystems changing ocean chemistry chemoautotroph chesapeake bay chl a chlorophyll circulation climate change CO2 coastal darkening coastal ocean cobalt Coccolithophores community composition conservation cooling effect copepod coral reefs currents cyclone DCM decomposers decomposition deep convection deep ocean deep sea coral deoxygenation depth diagenesis diatoms DIC diel migration dimethylsulfide dinoflagellate dissolved inorganic carbon dissolved organic carbon DOC DOM domoic acid dust DVM earth system models ecosystem state eddy Education Ekman transport emissions ENSO enzyme equatorial regions error ESM estuarine and coastal carbon fluxes estuary euphotic zone eutrophication evolution export EXPORTS extreme events extreme weather events faecal pellets filter feeders filtration rates fire fish Fish carbon fisheries floats fluid dynamics fluorescence food webs forams freshening freshwater frontal zone functional role future oceans geochemistry geoengineering GEOTRACES glaciers gliders global carbon budget global warming go-ship grazing greenhouse gas Greenland groundwater Gulf of Maine Gulf of Mexico Gulf Stream gyre harmful algal bloom high latitude human food human impact hurricane hydrothermal hypoxia ice age ice cores ice cover industrial onset inverse circulation iron iron fertilization isotopes jellies katabatic winds kelvin waves krill kuroshio land-ocean continuum larvaceans lateral transport LGM lidar ligands light light attenuation mangroves marine heatwave marine snowfall marshes Mediterranean meltwater mesopelagic mesoscale metagenome metals methane microbes microlayer microorganisms microscale microzooplankton midwater mixed layer mixed layers mixotrophy modeling mode water molecular diffusion MPT multi-decade NASA NCP net community production new technology nitrate nitrogen nitrogen fixation nitrous oxide north atlantic north pacific nutricline nutrient budget nutrient cycling nutrient limitation nutrients OA ocean-atmosphere ocean acidification ocean carbon uptake and storage ocean color ocean observatories ODZ oligotrophic omics OMZ open ocean optics organic particles overturning circulation oxygen pacific paleoceanography particle flux pCO2 PDO peat pelagic pH phenology phosphorus photosynthesis physical processes physiology phytoplankton plankton POC polar regions pollutants prediction primary productivity Prochlorococcus proteins pteropods pycnocline radioisotopes remineralization remote sensing residence time resource management respiration resuspension rivers rocky shore Rossby waves Ross Sea ROV salinity salt marsh satell satellite scale seafloor seagrass sea ice sea level rise seasonal patterns sea spray seaweed sediments sensors shelf system shells ship-based observations shorelines silicate sinking particles size SOCCOM soil carbon southern ocean south pacific spatial covariations speciation SST subduction submesoscale subpolar subtropical sulfate surface surface ocean Synechococcus teleconnections temperate temperature temporal covariations thermocline thermohaline thorium tidal time-series time of emergence top predators total alkalinity trace elements trace metals trait-based transfer efficiency transient features trophic transfer tropical turbulence twilight zone upper ocean upper water column upwelling US CLIVAR validation velocity gradient ventilation vertical flux vertical migration vertical transport volcano water clarity water quality western boundary currents wetlands winter mixing zooplankton

Copyright © 2021 - OCB Project Office, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 266 Woods Hole Rd, MS #25, Woods Hole, MA 02543 USA Phone: 508-289-2838  •  Fax: 508-457-2193  •  Email: ocb_news@us-ocb.org

link to nsflink to noaalink to WHOI

Funding for the Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry Project Office is provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The OCB Project Office is housed at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.