Collaborative Research: The Cariaco Basin Oceanographic Time Series Program

摘要-0326268/OCE-0326175/OCE-0326313本项目是加勒比盆地海洋时间序列计划(CARIACO)的延续。研究小组由来自南佛罗里达大学、纽约州立大学石溪分校和美国南卡罗来纳大学哥伦比亚分校的研究人员以及他们在拉萨尔基金会、西蒙·玻利瓦尔大学、东方大学、图像处理中心和CONICIT/FONACIT的委内瑞拉同事组成。Cariaco在北纬10‘30’，西经‘40’收集了系统的海洋测量数据，以了解气候变化、水文变化和Cariaco盆地泥沙生成和堆积之间的关系。Cariaco是委内瑞拉大陆边缘的一个1400米深的凹地，在一个浅(约140米)的基岩上公开与大西洋表面相连。由于盆地水的周转缓慢，下沉物质的分解导致约275m以下的永久缺氧。这一天然沉积物圈闭保存了广泛用于研究全新世和晚更新世气候变化的优良沉积记录。在这方面，时间序列提供了有关现代生物地球化学过程的信息，将作为准确解释气候变化沉积物档案的基础。根据该计划收集的数据和结果可通过互联网服务器(http://imars.usf.edu))公开获得，一旦通过质量控制，根据处理观测的难度，周期从几周到24个月不等。Cariaco计划的继续实施预计将产生(1)Cariaco盆地副热带水下上升流变化的时间序列，包括横向运动，及其对初级生产力和颗粒物垂直通量的影响；(2)首次直接校准和同时交叉参照Cariaco盆地海表面温度(因此也包括古温度)的各种替代物；(3)澄清作为颗粒物来源的近地表生物过程、侧向输送和化学自养的相对重要性，(4)评估颗粒通量的变化主要是由当地风还是由热带大西洋规模的区域海洋过程驱动的，以及(5)评价养分可获得性或限制的变化是否导致主要的生态系统制度转变。该计划将充分利用该地区现有的卫星观测和气象记录。CARIACO是一个IGBP-LOICZ(海岸带陆海相互作用)计划，其目标与“美国碳循环科学计划”和OCTET(海洋碳运输、交换和转化)计划倡议相关。在这个意义上，时间序列将有助于阐明海洋过程与气候变化等现象之间的联系，气候变化在各种时间尺度上运行，包括与社会相关的时间尺度，许多科学家认为气候变化与热带地区有着错综复杂的联系。例如，Cariaco测量还可能有助于了解影响区域渔业和灾害性天气模式的过程。一个重要贡献是为第三方在Cariaco盆地建立补充或独立的跨学科过程研究提供基础设施。这类研究的结果与加勒比地区的研究结果结合在一起的影响将远远大于单个研究的影响。时间序列计划也对拉丁美洲的技术转让和人力资源开发产生了影响。该项目促进了与委内瑞拉的科学合作，委内瑞拉对美国具有重要的战略意义。通过南佛罗里达大学、南卡罗来纳大学、石溪大学、拉萨尔基金会、西蒙·玻利瓦尔大学、东方大学、图像处理中心和CONICIT/FONACIT的合作努力，该项目得以维持，后五所机构位于委内瑞拉。这为委内瑞拉和其他地区的科学家提供了在一个大型项目中参与物流规划、实地考察、数据分析和联合出版的机会，并参与了一个解决当地和全球相关问题的项目。该项目对美国的少数族裔学生以及加勒比和拉丁美洲的学生和科学家产生了重大的教育影响。委内瑞拉政府认为Cariaco是委内瑞拉有史以来最重要的海洋研究项目。

ABSTRACTOCE-0326268 / OCE-0326175 / OCE-0326313This project constitutes the continuation of the Cariaco Basin Oceanographic Time Series Program (CARIACO). The research team is composed of investigators from the University of South Florida, State University of New York at Stony Brook, and the University of South Carolina at Columbia in the United States and their Venezuelan colleagues at Fundacion La Salle, Universidad Simon Bolivar, Universidad de Oriente, Centro de Procesamiento de Imagenes, and CONICIT/FONACIT. CARIACO collects systematic oceanographic measurements at 10'30' N, 64'40' W in order to understand the relationships between changes in climate, hydrography, and sediment production and accumulation in the Cariaco Basin. Cariaco is a 1,400-m deep depression on the Venezuelan continental margin that is openly connected to the surface Atlantic Ocean above a shallow (~140 m) sill. Because turnover of basin waters is slow, decomposition of sinking material leads to permanent anoxia below about 275 m. An excellent sediment record that is widely used to study Holocene and late Pleistocene changes in climate is preserved in this natural sediment trap. In this context, the time series provides information on modern biogeochemical processes that will serve as a basis for accurately interpreting this sediment archive of climate change. Data collected under this program and results are publicly available via an Internet server (http://imars.usf.edu) upon passing quality control, within periods ranging from weeks to 24 months depending on the difficulty of processing an observation. Data, samples, and bunk space on cruises are also routinely made available upon request.Continuation of the CARIACO program is expected to yield (1) a time series of variability in upwelling of Subtropical Underwater in the Cariaco Basin, including lateral motion, and its impact on primary productivity and vertical flux of particulate matter; (2) the first direct calibration and concurrent cross-reference of various proxies of sea surface temperature (and therefore of paleotemperature) of the Cariaco Basin; (3) clarification of the relative importance of near-surface biological processes, lateral transport, and chemoautotrophy as sources of particulates, (4) an assessment of whether variability in particle flux is driven primarily by local winds or by regional oceanographic processes at the scale of the Tropical Atlantic, and (5) an evaluation of whether changes in nutrient availability or limitation result in major ecosystem regime shifts. This program will fully utilize available satellite observations and meteorological records for the region.CARIACO is an IGBP-LOICZ (Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone) program with objectives that are relevant to the "U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan" and the OCTET (Ocean Carbon Transport, Exchanges and Transformations) planning initiatives. In this sense, the time series will help elucidate the connection between ocean processes and phenomena like climate change, which operates on a variety of time scales including those relevant to society, and which many scientists think is intricately linked to the tropics. CARIACO measurements may also for example help understand processes that affect regional fisheries and catastrophic weather patterns.An important contribution is the infrastructure for third parties to establish complementary or independent interdisciplinary process studies in the Cariaco Basin. The impact of results from such studies combined with those from CARIACO will be much larger than those possible from individual studies.The time series program also has technology transfer and human resource development impact in Latin America. The program nurtures scientific cooperation with Venezuela, a country of strategic importance to the United States. The program has been maintained through a collaborative effort between the University of South Florida, University of South Carolina, Stony Brook University, Fundacion La Salle, Universidad Simon Bolivar, Universidad de Oriente, Centro de Procesamiento de Imagenes, and CONICIT/FONACIT, with the latter five institutions located in Venezuela. This has provided an opportunity for Venezuelan and other regional scientists to participate in logistics planning, fieldwork, data analysis, and joint publications within a large program, and to participate in a project that addresses issues of both local and global relevance.This program has significant educational impact on minority students in the U.S. and on students and scientists in the Caribbean and Latin America. The Venezuelan government considers CARIACO the most significant oceanographic research program ever conducted in Venezuela.