Planning Meeting for a US-Italy Coastal Antarctic Time Series

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This international planning grant will enable researchers from the USA to collaborate with Italian oceanographers in planning and developing a long term time series program at the Italian Base in Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica. The long term goal involves observing the effects of climate change on the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and nutrients in the western Ross Sea, an important region of Antarctic Bottom Water formation. The goals of the planning grant include: (1) determining the current state of US-Italian knowledge in the Ross Sea; (2) prioritizing the most important scientific issues to be addressed in future collaborations; (3) developing a plan for both short term and long term funding of collaborative activities; and (4) planning logistical operations by both nations. The proposed western Ross Sea time series program will serve as both an environmental sentinel and a natural laboratory to understand the impacts of climate change.The planning visit, and future international collaborations, will facilitate the development of the next generation of scientists in Antarctica. Italian post-doctoral and graduate students, as well as junior US researchers, will participate in the planning meeting. A long term study of the western Ross Sea will enable new investigators to be involved in all aspects of planning and testing hypotheses regarding the impacts of climate change on a coastal Antarctic ecosystem.