The proposed workshop is a Gordon Research Conference (GRC) titled "2005 Polar Marine Science: Climate Feedbacks and Trophic Shifts in Polar Seas". It will be held in March 2005 in Ventura, California USA. This award will provide partial support for the participation of invited speakers, discussion leaders and young investigators. The objective of the conference is to assess the recently documented large-scale, interannual changes that have impacted the northern and southern polar ocean systems, their physical bases, and their impacts on physical, chemical, biological and coupled systems. The plan of conference is to examine the impacts of the changing climate on sea ice cover, and likely consequences to ice biota and to the exchange of such substances as carbon dioxide and dimethyl sulfide, will be considered. An attempt will be made to assess aspects of concurrent interannual changes in broader food web variability. Both field and modeling results and paleoceanographic reconstruction of past conditions will be used in the discussions. The goals of the conference are to promote learning and participant diversity, and attendance will be open to scientists, technologists and educators from academia, government and industry. A forum is thus provided for support and encouragement of young scientists and scientist from developing countries as they establish initial scientific and personal contacts. Registrants will be drawn from underrepresented groups and from a wide geographic base. A second aspect of this conference is a bilateral treatment of the northern and southern high latitude oceans. The Arctic and the Antarctic often can be treated in separate sessions at scientific meetings. Because of commonality between many of the biological, geochemical, and physical processes, interactions and impacts will be addressed in this conference that are common to both polar regions. A bipolar focus can help lead to new insights into these processes, and future collaborations between scientists.
