The Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS)

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ABSTRACTOCE-0326885This award will extend the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) program for five additional years from August 1, 2003 to July 31, 2008. Long-term time series like BATS and the Hawaiian Ocean Time-Series (HOT) are powerful tools for investigating ocean biogeochemistry and its effects on the global carbon cycle. The seasonal, interannual and longer-scale dynamics of carbon and other nutrient cycles in the upper ocean control ecosystem productivity, the net exchange of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and the ocean, and the distribution of many elements in the sea. Understanding the overall carbon cycle requires that we understand each of its component processes. The focus of the BATS research effort is to improve understanding of the time-varying components of the ocean carbon cycle and related biogenic elements of interest (e.g., nitrogen, phosphorus), and identifying the relevant physical, chemical and ecosystem properties responsible for this variability.Open access at the BATS and HOT stations to oligotrophic ocean gyres has allowed more than 100 scientists to conduct small, single/few investigators, independent projects of their own design in the context of a wider biogeochemical program and the rich historical context of the two time-series datasets. Open data policies have allowed many more to explore BATS and HOT datasets for both research and education (from K12 to graduate). The BATS site has become a focus for many other oceanographic studies both US and international in scope, and a foci of numerous educational programs. Many of the scientific questions asked at the time-series stations have become even more relevant when considered on interannual to decadal time-scales. These are the inherent time-scales of many of the natural modes of climate variability and the time-scale of anthropogenic change. To address these time-scales requires that we study the system consistently over such periods, much as the data from Hydrostation S and the Keeling Mauna Loa atmospheric CO2 sampling have given us insights over the past four decades. The BATS and HOT time-series have just opened the decadal window for the kinds of oceanographic and biogeochemical questions at the heart of future ocean programs. Both BATS and HOT are and will be a significant community asset that have broad value to oceanography and beyond. Among the many broader impacts of BATS research will be the wealth of hydrographic and biogeochemical data collected to provide a broad context for examining oceanographic paradigms and hypotheses. In addition to the research conducted as part of the core program, a wide range of ancillary projects have been and are supported by the presence of the BATS program. The BATS program also has a synergistic existence with the three other oceanographic time-series studies conducted near Bermuda (Hydrostation S, Ocean Flux Program, Bermuda Testbed Mooring). Each time-series provides connected, but not overlapping data that contributes to a sum greater than the individual parts. BATS investigators will be very active in many aspects of student education, training and public outreach. BATS data and scientific understanding will continue to be incorporated into undergraduate/graduate courses, several of which have laboratory components that make use of the research facilities at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research as well as day cruises on the R.V. Weatherbird II to the Hydrostation S and BATS site. Training of students, technicians and researchers through hands-on laboratory, cruise and data synthesis activities, will be an important component of this research effort. This effort will also directly aid the U.S. national effort to improve the understanding of the oceanic carbon cycle and its impact on climate.