Collaborative Research: The Cariaco Basin Oceanographic Time Series

本项目是加里亚科盆地海洋时间序列项目（Cariaco）的延续。该研究小组由来自南佛罗里达大学、纽约州立大学石溪分校和美国南卡罗来纳大学哥伦比亚分校的研究人员以及他们在拉萨尔基金会、西蒙玻利瓦尔大学、东方大学、图像处理中心和conict /FONACIT的委内瑞拉同事组成。CARIACO在北纬10′30′、西经64′40′收集系统的海洋学测量数据，以了解CARIACO盆地的气候变化、水文、沉积物产生和积累之间的关系。Cariaco是委内瑞拉大陆边缘的一个1400米深的洼地，它与大西洋表面的浅海（约140米）相连。由于盆地水的周转缓慢，下沉物质的分解导致275米以下永久缺氧。该天然沉积物圈闭保存了一个极好的沉积记录，广泛用于研究全新世和晚更新世的气候变化。在这种情况下，时间序列提供了现代生物地球化学过程的信息，这些信息将作为准确解释气候变化沉积物档案的基础。根据该计划收集的数据和结果在通过质量控制后，将通过互联网服务器（http://imars.usf.edu）公开提供，周期从几周到24个月不等，具体取决于处理观测的难度。数据、样本和邮轮上的铺位也经常应要求提供。继续开展CARIACO项目预计将得出(1)CARIACO盆地副热带水下上升流变化的时间序列，包括横向运动及其对初级生产力和颗粒物垂直通量的影响；(2)首次对卡里亚科盆地各种海表温度代用指标进行了直接定标和同步交叉参考；(3)澄清近地表生物过程、横向运输和化学自养作为颗粒物来源的相对重要性；(4)评估颗粒通量的变化主要是由当地风驱动还是由热带大西洋尺度上的区域海洋过程驱动；(5)评估营养物质有效性或有限性的变化是否会导致主要生态系统制度的转变。该计划将充分利用该地区现有的卫星观测和气象记录。CARIACO是一个IGBP-LOICZ（海岸带陆海相互作用）项目，其目标与“美国碳循环科学计划”和OCTET（海洋碳运输、交换和转化）计划倡议相关。从这个意义上说，时间序列将有助于阐明海洋过程与气候变化等现象之间的联系，气候变化在各种时间尺度上运行，包括与社会相关的时间尺度，许多科学家认为这与热带地区有着复杂的联系。例如，加勒比合作组织的测量还可以帮助了解影响区域渔业和灾难性天气模式的过程。一个重要的贡献是为第三方提供基础设施，以便在卡里亚科盆地建立补充性或独立的跨学科过程研究。这些研究结果与加勒比合作组织的研究结果相结合的影响将远远大于单独研究可能产生的影响。时间序列计划还对拉丁美洲的技术转让和人力资源开发产生影响。该计划促进了与委内瑞拉的科学合作，委内瑞拉对美国具有战略重要性。通过南佛罗里达大学、南卡罗来纳大学、石溪大学、拉萨尔基金会、西蒙玻利瓦尔大学、东方大学、图像处理中心和conict /FONACIT（后五家机构位于委内瑞拉）之间的合作努力，该项目得以维持。这为委内瑞拉和其他地区的科学家提供了一个机会，他们可以在一个大型项目中参与后勤规划、实地考察、数据分析和联合出版物，并参与一个解决当地和全球相关问题的项目。该项目对美国的少数族裔学生以及加勒比和拉丁美洲的学生和科学家产生了重大的教育影响。委内瑞拉政府认为CARIACO是委内瑞拉有史以来最重要的海洋学研究项目。

ABSTRACTOCE-0326268 / OCE-0326175 / OCE-0326313This project constitutes the continuation of the Cariaco Basin Oceanographic Time Series Program (CARIACO). The research team is composed of investigators from the University of South Florida, State University of New York at Stony Brook, and the University of South Carolina at Columbia in the United States and their Venezuelan colleagues at Fundacion La Salle, Universidad Simon Bolivar, Universidad de Oriente, Centro de Procesamiento de Imagenes, and CONICIT/FONACIT. CARIACO collects systematic oceanographic measurements at 10'30' N, 64'40' W in order to understand the relationships between changes in climate, hydrography, and sediment production and accumulation in the Cariaco Basin. Cariaco is a 1,400-m deep depression on the Venezuelan continental margin that is openly connected to the surface Atlantic Ocean above a shallow (~140 m) sill. Because turnover of basin waters is slow, decomposition of sinking material leads to permanent anoxia below about 275 m. An excellent sediment record that is widely used to study Holocene and late Pleistocene changes in climate is preserved in this natural sediment trap. In this context, the time series provides information on modern biogeochemical processes that will serve as a basis for accurately interpreting this sediment archive of climate change. Data collected under this program and results are publicly available via an Internet server (http://imars.usf.edu) upon passing quality control, within periods ranging from weeks to 24 months depending on the difficulty of processing an observation. Data, samples, and bunk space on cruises are also routinely made available upon request.Continuation of the CARIACO program is expected to yield (1) a time series of variability in upwelling of Subtropical Underwater in the Cariaco Basin, including lateral motion, and its impact on primary productivity and vertical flux of particulate matter; (2) the first direct calibration and concurrent cross-reference of various proxies of sea surface temperature (and therefore of paleotemperature) of the Cariaco Basin; (3) clarification of the relative importance of near-surface biological processes, lateral transport, and chemoautotrophy as sources of particulates, (4) an assessment of whether variability in particle flux is driven primarily by local winds or by regional oceanographic processes at the scale of the Tropical Atlantic, and (5) an evaluation of whether changes in nutrient availability or limitation result in major ecosystem regime shifts. This program will fully utilize available satellite observations and meteorological records for the region.CARIACO is an IGBP-LOICZ (Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone) program with objectives that are relevant to the "U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan" and the OCTET (Ocean Carbon Transport, Exchanges and Transformations) planning initiatives. In this sense, the time series will help elucidate the connection between ocean processes and phenomena like climate change, which operates on a variety of time scales including those relevant to society, and which many scientists think is intricately linked to the tropics. CARIACO measurements may also for example help understand processes that affect regional fisheries and catastrophic weather patterns.An important contribution is the infrastructure for third parties to establish complementary or independent interdisciplinary process studies in the Cariaco Basin. The impact of results from such studies combined with those from CARIACO will be much larger than those possible from individual studies.The time series program also has technology transfer and human resource development impact in Latin America. The program nurtures scientific cooperation with Venezuela, a country of strategic importance to the United States. The program has been maintained through a collaborative effort between the University of South Florida, University of South Carolina, Stony Brook University, Fundacion La Salle, Universidad Simon Bolivar, Universidad de Oriente, Centro de Procesamiento de Imagenes, and CONICIT/FONACIT, with the latter five institutions located in Venezuela. This has provided an opportunity for Venezuelan and other regional scientists to participate in logistics planning, fieldwork, data analysis, and joint publications within a large program, and to participate in a project that addresses issues of both local and global relevance.This program has significant educational impact on minority students in the U.S. and on students and scientists in the Caribbean and Latin America. The Venezuelan government considers CARIACO the most significant oceanographic research program ever conducted in Venezuela.