OCB: Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Program 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 Introduce me, SSC members present and agency reps. We called this town hall to get YOUR input on a new program on ocean carbon and biogeochemistry. The program is being spearheaded by NSF with significant input and support from NASA and NOAA. My plan for this session is to first introduce you to the fundamentals of the OCB progam (~20 minutes) and then I will open up the floor to questions (address to any of us on the SSC or to the agency reps) First: the mission of this program: The mission of this program is to “establish the evolving role of the ocean in the global carbon cycle in the face of environmental change – through studies of marine biogeochemistry AND associated ecoystems… In other words, this program includes not only biogeochemical processes, but opens up more widely than earlier programs to include more of the marine ecosystem research community. At one extreme, you could fit almost any kind of research under the banner of this mission statement, because all ecosystems have some kind of link to ocean biogeochemistry. In reality, the mission can’t possibly reach that far. There needs to be a RESEARCHABLE link between the two. That is, we are familiar with the role of phytoplankton in the ocean biogeochemical cycles. That kind of research continues to fit under this banner. We have a tougher time linking the reproductive behaviors of whales to biogeochemical cycles, although certainly that must exist!

Promote, plan, and coordinate collaborative, multidisciplinary research opportunities within the U.S. research community and with international partners OCCC Ocean Carbon & Climate Change NACP North American Carbon Program SOLAS Surface-Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study IMBER Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecology Will promote, plan and coordinate collaborative multidisciplinary research opportunities within the US community and with international partners… We are building off of the OCCC strategy that was formally published as this doc in 2004 – with 2 main differences has been expanded to include greater emphasis on ecological processes and to coordinate with existing national and international programs like NACP, SOLAS and IMBER Part of a continuum of discussions going back to OCTET, etc.

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

OCB Program Structure Data Management OCB Office OCB SSC Biological and Chemical Ocean Data Management OCB Office OCB Project Office OCB SSC Scientific Steering Committee New & Future Projects U.S. single-investigator to larger research projects funded by NASA, NOAA, and NSF Observing System Repeat Hydrography/CO2 HOT, BATS, CARIACO U.S. efforts in CarboOcean ORION, … There are two main components to the Program Structure – Research and Management

OCB Implementation Annual Summer OCB Science Workshop (July 21-24, 2008, Woods Hole MA) Mix of plenary talks, breakouts & poster sessions Climate sensitivity of ecosystem structure & trophic dynamics Carbon uptake and storage Temporal trends in ecosystem variability Current and future OCB pursuits Discussion of future community science/field efforts (e.g., follow-up on NASA OCRT field experiment discussions)

OCB Implementation Targeted scoping meetings on implementing critical science meetings Ocean Acidification (Oct., 2007) report available for public comment soon OCB build OA research plans from report Gulf of Mexico (May, 2008) Next round of workshops (Spring, 2009) workshop proposals submitted June/July Targeted workshop, ~50 people $50K in travel support focus on implementation

May 6-8, 2008 St. Petersburg, FL Deadline to Apply: March 24, 2008 Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Scoping Workshop on Terrestrial and Coastal Carbon Fluxes and Exchanges in the Gulf of Mexico May 6-8, 2008 St. Petersburg, FL Deadline to Apply: March 24, 2008 http://www.whoi.edu/sites/GMxCarbon Contact Organizers for More Information: Paula G. Coble (pcoble@marine.usf.edu) & Lisa Robbins (lrobbins@usgs.gov)

OCB Implementation Core NSF funds (Feb. target date for OCB proposals) as well as NASA and NOAA announcements of opportunity OCB Time-series Advisor Committee Debbie Bronk Chair Working with HOT, BATS, Cariaco programs Community input OCB Ocean Acidification Committee Joan Kleypas and Dick Feely co-Chairs Whitepaper building from Fall OA workshop New initiatives

IMPORTANT CONTACTS http://us-ocb.org/ NSF Don Rice, Dave Garrison, Phil Taylor NASA Paula Bontempi NOAA Mete Uz CCSP Program Office Roger Hanson Scott Doney (WHOI) Bob Anderson (LDEO) Ginger Armbrust (UW) Kathy Barbeau (SIO) Debbie Bronk (VIMS) Mary-Elena Carr (JPL) Richard Feely (NOAA) Dave Karl (U. Hawaii) Joanie Kleypas (NCAR) Steve Lohrenz (U. S Miss.) Wade McGillis (LDEO) Burke Hales (OSU) Galen McKinley (U Wisc) Mark Ohman (SIO) Tammi Richardson (U-SC) Chris Sabine (NOAA The Steering committee includes researchers from universities and federal agencies. Scott Doney is the chair of the SSC -Here’s a complete list of the SSC members – these are the go-to people with questions, inputs, problems.