On the Shores of a Living Ocean: The Unseen World

1. On the Shores of a Living Ocean: The Unseen World Ocean Biology & Biogeochemistry Working Group – 2005 Draft – December 30, 2005

2. Scientific Questions for the OBB Program • How do ocean Ecosystems and the Diverse Communities they support function and how does this change over time? • How do Carbon and other elements transition between ocean and other global reservoirs and how do associated fluxes impact the Earth system through their interaction and change over time? • What is the variety and geographical distribution of coastal marine Habitats? How are these changing and what implications do they have for human health? • How do natural Hazards and pollutants impact the hydrography and biology of the coastal zone?

3. Ecosystems & diversity, Carbon & biogeochemistry,Habitats & Hazards “How do ocean ecosystems and the diverse biological communities they support function and how does this change over time?” • Biogeography • Ocean Productivity • Trophic energy transfer • Functional Groups • Carbon Exporters (diatoms) • Nitrogen Fixers (trichodesmium) • Calcium Carbonate (coccolithophores) • Microbial loop (prochlorococcus)

4. Ecosystems & diversity, Carbon & biogeochemistry,Habitats & Hazards “How do carbon and other elements transition between ocean and other global reservoirs and how do associated fluxes impact the Earth system through their interaction and change over time?” CO2 regenerated production regenerated production phytoplantkon DIC DIC zooplankton fish bacteria detritus ‘new’ primary production DOC POC base of euphotic zone export production • Phytoplankton Biomass • Ocean Productivity • Particulate Carbon • Dissolved Organic Carbon • Inorganic Carbon System • Export Carbon Fluxes mid-water biota and bacteria DIC benthicr biota and bacteria POC

5. Ecosystems & diversity, Carbon & biogeochemistry,Habitats & Hazards “What is the variety and geographical distribution of coastal marine habitats? How are these changing and what implications do they have for human health?” • Classification of Ocean Habitats • Land to Ocean Materials Exchange • Eutrophication • Fisheries • Recreation

6. Ecosystems & diversity, Carbon & biogeochemistry,Habitats & Hazards “How do natural hazards and pollutants impact the hydrography and biology of the coastal zone?” • Tsunamis & Hurricanes • Land to Ocean Materials Exchange • Eutrophication • Pollution • Harmful Algal Blooms • Waste Processing

7. What–Assessment of structure, functioning and distribution of ocean ecosystems, their changes over time and relationship to biogeochemical cycling. Evaluation of the diversity of ocean life and its roles in ecosystem function and its impacts. Development of a predictive understanding for ocean ecosystems and their changes on synoptic to climatic time scales. Assessment of rates of secondary production and transfer of energy to higher tropic levels. Benefit to Society – Ocean ecosystems provide services to society such as fisheries, nutrient cycling, ecosystem-based management, human health, recreation, natural products, pollutant degradation, long-term carbon repository, etc. Diverse biological communities provide ecosystems with resilience to disturbance and change. Healthy ocean ecosystems are valued by society for the services they provide and as important locations for marine conservation. Observational Strategy – Remotely assess ecosystem parameters (biomass, partitioning of biomass into functional groups), net primary production, etc. on synoptic to global scales. Requires multiple spatial and spectral resolutions encompassing polar-orbiting and geostationary platforms. Accurate global time series of sea spectral reflectance, coupled models (driven by other RS quantities), assessments of functional groups of phytoplankton via hyperspectral imagery, phytoplankton primary production via modeling & observations of sea surface reflectance and active lidar. Systematic observations of the ocean environment, including SSH, vector wind, SST, SSS, O3, Aerosols, MLD, etc., are required. Integration of in situ technologies and modeling to extend space-based observations to depth, to calibrate observations in complex environments in near-real-time and to extend into the future. Ocean Ecosystems & Biodiversity How do ocean ecosystems and the diverse biological communities they support function and how is ecosystem function changing over time?

8. What– Quantify elemental (C, N, P, Si, Fe, others) pools of the deep sea, continental margins, and coastal zones and characterize mechanisms for their variation in time and the interaction within and between elemental pools. Define exchanges and feedbacks between natural and anthropogenic ocean-land-atmosphere elemental pools and how the oceanic component of this integrated system contributes to contemporary and future carbon cycling and climate. Benefit to Society – Current assessments indicate that oceans absorb most anthropogenic carbon emissions, play a dominant role in climate regulation and variability, directly influence atmospheric chemistry, biologically process vast quantities of nutrients from human, agricultural, and other sources, clear atmospheric pollution, and support half the productivity of the planet. Observational Strategy – Evolution of a comprehensive remote sensing suite involving advanced passive measurements of sea spectral reflectance and active (lidar) measurements of vertical light scattering properties and encompassing polar-orbiting and geostationary platforms to provide the differential spatial and temporal resolutions requisite for addressing coastal to global issues. Inclusive to this capability are synergies with multidisciplinary remote sensing observations (SST, wind, SST, Ozone, Aerosols, MLD) and links to concurrent field programs (NACP, ORION, NEON, GOOS). Earth system models are integrated for improved remote sensing products (e.g., atmospheric corrections) and extension from observations to predictions. Central products include: Chl, POC, PIC, CDOM, DOC, and DIC stocks, eutrophication indices, carbon pool fluxes (including net and export primary production), and links to climate. Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry How do carbon and other elements transition between ocean and other global reservoirs and how do associated fluxes impact the Earth system through their interaction and change over time?

9. What–The physical environment defines habitat and controls the spatial distribution of biodiversity in the ocean. While it is clear that environmental health requires high biodiversity, it is not clear whether this is because high diversity of complementary traits enhances stability or because it serves as a pool of traits that can become dominant as conditions change. Natural and anthropogenic forcings lead to changes in habitat and in functional groups of species, where species are replaced by others with other characteristics. However, the linkage between biodiversity and habitat diversity is not understood. Similarly, the impact of extremes in abiotic conditions (habitat) on tolerance limits of species and biodiversity is not clear. Benefit to Society –Ecosystems determine the biogeochemical processes that regulate life. Habitat and biological diversity control productivity, decomposition rates, nutrient cycling, and resistance and resilience to perturbations. Understanding change and developing a predictive ability help manage human activities to sustain ecosystem services, and help societies adapt. Observational Strategy – Environmental parameters measurable via remote sensing may serve as proxies representing habitat, habitat gradient, and change, and associated processes. Multiple spatial and spectral resolution encompassing polar-orbiting and geostationary platforms is needed for addressing coastal to global issues. Synergy with physical and geological remote sensing observations (ALT, wind, SST, salinity, Ozone, Aerosols, MLD) required to understand habitat over synoptic scales. Integration with in situ technologies provides a means to extend surface-ocean observations to depth, and to calibrate observations in complex environments in near-real-time. Large programs (NACP, ORION, NEON, GOOS) provide a robust science context. Ecosystem models required for predictive capability. Coastal Ocean Habitats What is the variety and geographical distribution of coastal marine habitats? How are they changing and what implications do they have for human health?

10. What– The ocean and coastal regime are subject to a variety of hazards resulting from natural and manmade changes to climate and the environment. Large and infrequent events may have the greatest impact on organisms within the coastal zone and the communities residing along the coasts. Hazards & episodic events can result from: Atmosphere – tropical storms, sea surface warming, increased acidity from elevated CO2 Terrestrial – river runoff events, earthquakes, glacial meltwater, sea ice calving Oceanic - toxic spills, harmful algal blooms, cessation of upwelling, tsunamis, icebergs, anoxia, pollutants With the onset of global warming, episodic events may intensify in strength and frequency and result in permanent changes to marine life. Hazards & Episodic Events How do natural hazards and episodic events impact the hydrography and biology of the coastal zone? • Benefit to Society - With the migration of the world’s population toward coastal cities, estuarine and coastal systems are highly vulnerable to natural hazards. Better observational capabilities and modeling techniques will allow us to improve forecasts of the magnitude and consequences of episodic events. • Observational Strategy - High temporal resolution, High spatial resolution, Physical properties (SST, Salinity, TSM, bathymetry, mixed layer depth), Biological properties (CDOM, Chl, PP), All weather sensing & integrated modeling efforts to forecast hazards and consequences unobtainable with present tools.

11. Observational Strategies • Global stocks, rates & phytoplankton functional group identification and quantification. • Regional stocks, rates & phytoplankton functional group identification and quantification. • Habitats & hazards • Variable phytoplankton fluorescence • Mixed layer depth & illumination • Ocean particle profiler & aerosol distributions

12. Observational Strategies I suppose a slide is needed for each observational strategy here…

13. Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Science Measurement Technology Options Challenges Depth-resolved subsurface return Aerosol/Particle lidar1 Global ocean carbon / Particle abundance Multi/Hyper Radiometer2 Data volume, NIR detector sensitivity, electronics Fluorescence saturation profile, dawn/midnight sampling, subsurface signal Variable fluorescence lidar4 Physiology & Functional Groups Multi/Hyper Radiometer2 Data volume, NIR detector sensitivity, electronics Laser altimeter/polarimeter, absorbing aerosols to 0.5 km Aerosol heights5 Coastal Carbon Geo Multi/Hyper Radiometer6 <100 m resolution, NIR detector sensitivity Data volume, NIR detector sensitivity, electronics Polar Multi/Hyper Radiometer2 Synthesis of operational model output & available data products Model/data synthesis Mixed Layer Depth & Illumination Lidar backscatter Pulsed lidar returns @ 532 nm Variable excitation wavelength, low SNR Lidar emission/excitation

14. Recommendations for Missions I suppose a slide is needed to show how the observational strategies work into missions AND a prioritization scheme for what & when

15. We’ll need one of these too…

16. On the Shores of a Living Ocean Contributors: Michael Behrenfeld – Oregon State University Paula Bontempi – NASA HQ Heidi Dierssen – University Connecticut Charles McClain – NASA GSFC Paul DiGiacomo – NASA JPL Steve Lohrenz – University Southern Mississippi Frank Muller-Karger – University South Florida David Siegel – UC Santa Barbara James Yoder - WHOI