News on International Initiatives
Circumpolar Ecosystems – Launch of ICED Website
The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is part of an international consortium leading a new multidisciplinary initiative: Integrating Climate and Ecosystem Dynamics in the Southern Ocean (ICED), through Discovery 2010 (a BAS science programme, focused on integrating Southern Ocean ecosystems into the Earth System).
BAS is currently hosting the ICED programme office and newly launched ICED website : http://www.iced.ac.uk
We need to know more about how big ocean ecosystems work, but all too often researchers working in separate scientific disciplines and in different parts of the Southern Ocean do not get the opportunity to link up their ideas and form a bigger picture. ICED has been launched to develop a coordinated circumpolar and multidisciplinary approach to better understand climate interactions in the Southern Ocean, the implications for ecosystem dynamics, impacts on biogeochemical cycles and the development of sustainable management procedures.
ICED has been developed with the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), with support from the Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research (IMBER) and Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics (GLOBEC) programmes. ICED will lead and coordinate international research in partnership with the Southern Ocean System of the European Network of Excellence for Ocean Ecosystems Analysis (EUR-OCEANS), and the International Polar Year (IPY) consortia: ICED-IPY.
Contact: Rachel Cavanagh rcav@bas.ac.uk
Website: http://www.iced.ac.uk.
EUR-OCEANS
This week BAS scientists are coordinating the EUR-OCEANS Network’s Steering Committee meeting being held in Cambridge (22-24 November).
The overall objective of the European Network of Excellence for Ocean Ecosystems Analysis (EUR-OCEANS) is to achieve lasting integration of European research organisations on global change and pelagic marine ecosystems and the relevant scientific disciplines. BAS coordinates the EUR-OCEANS Southern Ocean System and Global Ocean Model Integration research. The strong partnership between EUR-OCEANS and ICED will provide leadership and coordination in Southern Ocean research not only within Europe but internationally.
Contact: Claire Tancell
Website: http://www.eur-oceans.eu/