Ocean Science and Technology

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Human activities are exerting unprecedented pressures on the global ocean. The pressures are physical (e.g., global sea level rise), chemical (e.g., acidification and nitrogen fertilization) and ecological (e.g., over fishing and habitat destruction). Canada is experiencing the impacts directly through, for example, the collapse of commercially important fish stocks and changes in Arctic climate and ice cover. There are strong indications that the rate and extent of change in the ocean is increasing, and perhaps accelerating. The Chair in Ocean Science and Technology will respond to these challenges by leading a major research effort focused on observing, understanding and predicting change in the ocean. The first of three research themes involves development of new ways of observing the ocean - new instrumentation packages carried by volunteer observing ships and other platforms to measure the biogeochemical state of the ocean over time. The second theme focuses on understanding the observed changes in terms of fundamental processes such as fixation of nitrogen by microbes. The third theme will develop new computer models and use them to predict, for example, changes in air-sea exchange of greenhouse gases, ocean acidification and the abundance of marine food supplies. The Chair will become the first Science Director of the new Marine Research Institute at Dalhousie University and will play a critical role in setting its long-term research agenda. The Institute will bring together university and government researchers to tackle some of the most pressing economic, social and environmental grand challenges of our time. The Institute will also act as a bridge between the marine research community, private sector and policy makers who need the best possible tools and scientific information in order to make informed and timely decisions.