This project continues the planning and implementation of the U.S. Joint Global Ocean Flux Program (U.S. JGOFS). The principal theme is to identify and quantify the physical, chemical and biological processes controlling biogeochemical cycling in the ocean, and their interaction with the global atmosphere. The goal is to understand the processes governing the production and fate of biogenic materials in the sea well enough to predict their influences on, and responses to, global scale perturbations. In order to achieve these complex goals, the Planning and Coordination Office serves the needs of coordination, implementation, communication, publication, planning and representation of the scientific issues involved, both nationally and internationally. A major process study in the Equatorial Pacific is underway, as well as planning for subsequent studies. Measurements at the Bermuda and Hawaii Time-Series stations continue during the next three years, and a JGOFS global survey of CO2, pigments and optics measurements is a continuing element on the WOCE Hydrographic Program cruises.
