Updates on the Bering Ecosystem Study (BEST): BEST Science Plan
Available and Abstract Deadline for GLOBEC Symposium on Sub-arctic
Marine Ecosystems
The Bering Ecosystem Study (BEST) Science Plan is available as a
downloadable PDF file at:
http://www.arcus.org/Bering/science_plan.html
Or you may request a printed copy by sending an email to:
subscriptions [at] arcus.org
The abstract deadline for the international GLOBEC Symposium on Climate
and the Sub-Arctic Seas (which will include an implementation workshop
for BEST) is Wednesday, 1 December 2004.
For more information, see:
http://www.pml.ac.uk/globec/structure/regional/essas/symposium/annoucem…
BACKGROUND ON SCIENCE PLAN
The Bering Ecosystem Study (BEST) Science Plan was developed during a
March 2003 planning workshop in Seattle, Washington, supported by the
National Science Foundation. The 23 participants at the workshop
outlined a multi-year research initiative to improve understanding of
the effects of climate variability, at multiple temporal and spatial
scales, on eastern Bering Sea marine ecosystems. Drafts of this science
plan were reviewed and discussed at town hall meetings in association
with three larger scientific meetings between October 2003 and February
2004; the draft science plan was also available for community review on
the ARCUS web site for several months. In total, about 130 scientists
participated in the discussion and review process.
The BEST science plan provides background information and frames science
questions to guide future integrated, interdisciplinary studies of
eastern Bering Sea marine ecosystems. The proposed studies focus on the
mechanisms and processes that determine the biological production and
the fate of this production as it is transferred through the ecosystem
to upper-trophic-level consumers, including humans.
The BEST program will be a major effort, requiring collaborative
research among multiple institutions and disciplines, the deployment of
multiple ships and long-term instrument arrays, and satellite-based
remote sensing studies. The BEST program will interface with other
national and international programs investigating the effects of climate
change on high-latitude marine ecosystems. More information on related
programs is available on the ARCUS web site:
http://www.arcus.org/Bering/index.html
BACKGROUND ON SYMPOSIUM
The international Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics (GLOBEC) is
sponsoring a Symposium on Climate Variability and Sub-arctic Marine
Ecosystems in Victoria, B.C., Canada, 16-20 May 2005. The abstract
submission deadline is Wednesday, 1 December 2004 for both talks and
posters.
The first day of the meeting will be an open Implementation Workshop for
BEST, and the last day will be an open Implementation Workshop for
Ecosystem Studies of Sub-Arctic Seas (ESSAS), a regional program in
GLOBEC. This will be an excellent opportunity for those interested in
research in the Bering Sea or elsewhere in the sub-arctic seas to help
shape these emerging research programs. Limited travel funds will be
available to aid those with need, and applications for financial aid
should be submitted by Wednesday, 1 December, along with an abstract.
More information on the symposium is available on the GLOBEC web site:
http://www.pml.ac.uk/globec/structure/regional/essas/symposium/annoucem…