9632841 CONVERSI This project is part of the U.S. GLOBEC Nortwest Atlantic Field Studies, Phase 2 program. The project focuses on intercomparisons of interannual patterns in zooplankton and phytoplankton species, in relation to climatic changes. The specific objectives of this project are: 1) to study the decadal changes in the abundance of the dominant, pan-Atlantic copepod species (Calanus finmarchicus, Pseudocalanus spp., Centropages typicus, Centropages hamatus, Metridia lucens, Acartia clausi and Temora longicornis) in the northeastern U.S. shelf (including Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank); 2) to compare zooplankton variability in the western and eastern Atlantic (area around the British Isles, including the North Sea); and 3) to relate the information from across-Atlantic comparisons to decadal changes in climate variables. ***