This award supports the participation of Dr. Osmund Holm-Hansen of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and several other U.S. marine scientists in an international workshop on Polar Marine Ecology to be held in Trondheim, Norway. The workshop has been designed specifically to bring together the scientists who were actively involved in the "Norwegian Research Program for Marine Arctic Ecology" (PRO MARE). The convener of the workshop and director of the subject research program is Professor Egil Sakshaug of the University of Trondheim. PRO MARE was an intensive five year ecological study of the Barents Sea sponsored by Norway, which invited many investigators from other countries (primarily the U.S.) to participate in the multidisciplinary research cruises. The emphasis of the research was to quantify the processes affecting food web dynamics, and evaluate how these rates are affected by physical, chemical and optical parameters. The workshop offers an opportunity to discuss and begin to synthesize the broad range of data acquired during PRO MARE into an ecosystem analysis of the Barents Sea, as well as examining their relevance to general polar oceanography. The Barents Sea has some oceanographic features which make it an excellent "model" system to study biological problems which have world wide significance. These include the development and importance of frontal systems for enhanced primary production, the relationship between phytoplankton productivity and depth of vertical mixing as influenced by meteorological conditions, and the biological and physical importance of the melting of the annual sea ice. All six U.S. researchers whose travel will be supported by this grant have had much personal involvement with the PRO MARE program; they will have much to contribute and learn during the multidisciplinary discussions.
