This award supports the organization and local costs of a Brazilian- American workshop on the physical oceanography of Brazil, to be held at the University of New Hamsphire in August, 1987. The workshop was organized by Dr. Wendell S. Brown of the University of New Hampshire in collaboration with Dr. Affonso Mascarenhas Jr., of the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. In addition to making possible an enhanced understanding of Brazilian physical oceanography, the workshop will enable Brazilian and American researchers in this field to become mutually acquainted and develop a strategy for future collaborative research. Improved knowledge of the circulation along the margin of Brazil would considerably enhance our understanding of the role of the South Atlantic in the global scheme of interaction between the oceans and the atmosphere. Various phenomena of global significance, such as equatorial dynamics, surface and subsurface boundary currents, deep water/shelf interaction, Amazon River outflow/shelf flow interaction, and estuarine dynamics, occur in this area. However, the task of understanding the kinematics, dynamics, and thermodynamics of this crucial portion of the global ocean is so large that international collaboration is required. This workshop will be a first step in stimulating and defining the areas of such collaborative effort, and therefore is an important step in improving our understanding of the geosphere as a whole.
