This award will provide the major funding to the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography to convene a Symposium on Ocean Carbon Cycles to be held February 23-26, 2009 in Savannah, Georgia. The primary goal of this conference is to bring together investigators studying various aspects of ocean carbon cycling and to have them discuss their approaches and progress in addressing analytical, methodological and conceptual challenges pivotal to the study of carbon cycles during a period of climate change. The presentation of ?cutting edge? material and informal exchange of scientific ideas among scientists with different experiences and expertise are vital to the continued development of marine biogeochemistry as a whole. The Symposium will assemble about 80 participants, including graduate students and researchers ranging from recent PhDs to 30-year veterans.
The Symposium will be organized around four sessions: (1) Carbon cycling as seen through the filter of biomarkers- what do we know and what do we need? (2) Marine Margins: Passive or aggressive players in biogeochemical cycles? (3) Paleoproxies: Carts and horses or chickens and eggs? (4) What questions should we be asking about ocean biogeochemical changes during the next century?
Session topics have been selected to provide a prospective view of carbon cycling in an Anthropocene ocean. A special issue of an appropriate Journal (i.e. Marine Chemistry or Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta), will be dedicated to coverage of the Symposium. All speakers will be invited to contribute papers for the special issue and session chairs will provide summaries and syntheses of each session. Symposium participants will also be invited to contribute short papers on related topics to the special issue. All contributions will be subject to peer review. All four of the session chairs have been selected and a slate of speakers has been identified. The speakers will seek to provide insight to state-of-the-art research topics, whereas session chairs will strive to create an environment conducive to lively discussion.
To complement the support provided by NSF through this award, other funds have been secured through the Petroleum Research Fund and Geochemical Society.
Broader Impacts: Integration of research and education in this symposium will be enhanced by the involvement of a large number (15+) of graduate students. Graduate students will be involved in all aspects of the proposed symposium, including poster presentations, round table discussions and discussions between talks, and the submission of manuscripts covering their research. The symposium is also organized to have many young scientists as speakers in the four sessions. This emphasis ensures that the information presented at the symposium reaches those who will be shaping the future in marine biogeochemistry. The planned publication of the research findings and primary consensus of needs and opportunities also makes the proceedings of the symposium available to a broad spectrum of the scientific community.
