Ocean Science and Technology

人类活动正给全球海洋带来前所未有的压力。压力是物理的(如全球海平面上升)、化学的(如酸化和氮肥)和生态的(如过度捕捞和生境破坏)。加拿大正在经历直接的影响，例如，具有重要商业价值的鱼类种群的崩溃以及北极气候和冰盖的变化。有强有力的迹象表明，海洋变化的速度和程度正在增加，甚至可能在加速。*海洋科学和技术教席将领导一项主要的研究工作，重点是观察、了解和预测海洋的变化，以应对这些挑战。三个研究主题中的第一个涉及开发新的海洋观测方法--由志愿观测船和其他平台携带的新仪器包，以测量一段时间内海洋的生物地球化学状态。第二个主题侧重于了解观察到的基本过程的变化，例如微生物固定氮的过程。第三个主题将开发新的计算机模型，并利用它们来预测例如温室气体的海气交换、海洋酸化和海洋食物供应的丰富程度的变化。*教席将成为达尔豪西大学新成立的海洋研究所的首任科学主任，并将在制定其长期研究议程方面发挥关键作用。该研究所将把大学和政府的研究人员聚集在一起，解决我们这个时代一些最紧迫的经济、社会和环境重大挑战。研究所还将作为海洋研究界、私营部门和政策制定者之间的桥梁，他们需要尽可能好的工具和科学信息，以便作出知情和及时的决定。

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.