Workshops to Develop a Research Plan for the Ecosystem Studies of Sub-Arctic Seas Program

亚北极海域，包括白令海、巴伦支海、纽芬兰/拉布拉多大陆架和鄂霍次克海，支持着一些世界上最具生产力的渔业，其中大部分以鳕鱼或狭鳕为基础。除了鄂霍次克海，这些海域也与北冰洋交换水，在某些情况下，当它们从北太平洋或北大西洋流向北冰洋时，还会改变水和盐。近年来，很明显，这些季节性冰雪覆盖的亚北极海域不仅受到年际变化的影响，而且还受到十年尺度和长期气候变化的影响。因此，有必要评估全球变化如何影响这些亚北极海域的海洋生态系统及其支持生产性渔业的能力。2002年9月初在加利福尼亚州拉古纳海滩举行了一次国际讲习班，以评估发展一项主要研究倡议的潜力，该倡议可以集中于对这些问题最有利的方法。这次讲习班的与会者确定有必要对亚北极海洋及其在全球变化背景下支持渔业的能力进行跨学科的比较研究。我们建议召开两次研讨会，为拉古纳海滩研讨会参与者设想的比较研究方案制定科学计划。这些研讨会的目标是确定和优先考虑有关全球变化对这些亚北极生态系统的潜在影响的最重要的研究问题，并确定回答这些问题的创新方法。讲习班的一项重要成果将是制定一项科学计划，为生态系统动力学（GLOBEC）项目提供基础。（亚北极海域目前不包括在eGLOBEC项目中。）科学计划还将为亚北极海洋生态系统研究与北极环境变化研究（SEARCH）项目的整合提供一个框架。

The sub-arctic seas, including the Bering Sea, the Barents Sea, the Newfoundland/Labrador Shelf, and th Sea of Okhotsk, support some of the world's most productive fisheries, most of which are based on cod or pollock. With the exception of the Sea of Okhotsk, these seas also exchange water with the Arctic Ocean and, in some cases, modify water and salts as they flow from the North Pacific Ocean or North Atlantic Ocean to the Arctic Ocean. In recent years, it has become evident that these seasonally ice-covered, sub-arctic seas are subject not only to interannual variation but also to decadal-scale and secular changes in climate. Thus, there is a need to assess how global change may affect the marine ecosystems of these sub-arctic seas and their ability to support productive fisheries. An international workshop to assess the potential for developing a major research initiative that could focus on the most profitable approaches to these questions was held in Laguna Beach, California, in early September 2002. The participants in this workshop identified a need for an interdisciplinary, comparative study of the sub-arctic seas and their ability to support fisheries in the context of global change. We propose to convene two workshops to develop a Science Plan for the comparative studies program envisaged by the participants of the Laguna Beach Workshop. The goal of these workshops is to identify and prioritize the most important research questions concerning the potential effects of global change on these sub-arctic ecosystems, and to identify innovative approaches to answering these questions. An important prodcut of the workshops will be the development of a Science Plan that could provide the basis for a Ecosystem Dynamics (GLOBEC) project. (The sub-arctic seas are not currently included in th eGLOBEC project.) The Science Plan will also provide a framework for integration of sub-arctic marine ecosystem studies with the SEARCH (Study of Arctic Environmental Change) program.