This award will support a regional workshop organized by the PI and international collaborators Felipe Niencheski, Fundacao Universidade do Rio Grande, Brazil, Carlos Martinez, Universidad del Uruguay, Montevideo, Uruguay and Pedro Depetris, Universidad de Cordoba, Cordoba, Argentina. The workshop will bring together scientists from Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and the U. S. to assess the state of knowledge on ocean margin processes of the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean, to develop a summary of the present understanding of physical and biogeochemical processes operating in this region and identify major areas of uncertainty. The Comision Tecnica Mixta del Frente Maritimo will serve as the host location for the meeting which will be held in Montevideo, Uruguay.
The Southwestern Atlantic Ocean Margin, along the coasts of Southern Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina, is one of the most biologically productive areas of the world's oceans and is the largest CO2 sink in the South Atlantic. Although this region is of global significance, the scientific community has a relatively poor understanding of the complex interactions of physical, chemical and biological processes of the region. The workshop will bring together about fifteen U.S. marine scientists, who are experts in ocean margin processes, together with a similar group of scientists from Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil, to synthesize the existing information on this region and to formulate plans for future international research collaborations. Workshop participants will prepare a report to the wider community summarizing the existing scientific understanding of this region, which will serve both research and educational programs. Regional and U.S. scientists will establish networks to initiate the pursuit of cooperative research projects/programs in the region.
