Mid-scale RI-2 Consortium: Biogeochemical-Argo: A global robotic network to observe changing ocean chemistry and biology

海洋覆盖了地球表面70%以上的面积。它提供的服务对地球上的生命至关重要，包括每年吸收93%的最近变暖产生的热量和四分之一的人类二氧化碳(CO2)排放。然而，海洋温度和二氧化碳水平的上升从根本上改变了海洋环境：PH值和氧气水平下降，洋流发生变化，营养物质的分布发生变化。这些变化中的每一个都会对生态系统以及整个海洋和大气中氧、氮和碳的循环产生影响。由于船舶测量的高成本，在大范围和长时间内观测这些生物地球化学(BGC)过程几乎是不可能的。然而，这样的观测对于理解海洋化学和生物学的自然状态以及预测海洋系统未来将如何演变至关重要。全球海洋生物地球化学(GO-BGC)阵列项目旨在推动我们在全球范围内观察和预测气候变化对海洋新陈代谢、碳吸收和海洋生物资源管理的影响的能力发生革命性转变。该项目团队计划实施一个创新和持续的机器人网络，该网络由500个携带化学和生物传感器的剖面花车组成，将在几年内每10天测量一次2000米深的海面。这些浮标将分布在所有主要的海洋盆地，并将通过卫星通信系统将数据传输到岸上。数据将在24小时内公开。过去，BGC浮标的区域阵列部署取得了巨大成功，但从未出现过全球阵列。这一全球阵列有可能在很少或根本没有常规船舶交通的偏远地区提供基本的观测数据，并可以在最恶劣的海况下工作，例如在高纬度环境中的冬季。区域SOCCOM(南大洋碳循环观测和模拟)项目的这种测量结果产生了意想不到的发现，突显了建立全球尺度阵列的必要性。预计这一史无前例的数据流将在全球范围内推动科学和公众对海洋中化学和生物(生物地质化学)循环的理解发生革命性转变。GO-BGC项目是来自美国许多主要海洋机构的研究人员的合作伙伴关系，他们带来了海洋数据收集和分析方面的经验，以及在海洋问题上的公众参与。该小组将通过“领养花车”计划与12所幼儿园学校接触，在学生和科学家之间提供直接联系，并通过命名和跟踪单个花车让学生参与进来。研究人员将举办研讨会和讲习班，使研究界熟悉数据流以及如何使用它们。他们将为本科生、研究生和博士后提供传感器校准和GO-BGC浮球部署和维护方面的培训，直接为“蓝色劳动力”的发展做出贡献。由此产生的数据集将用于课堂、科学研究，并用于推动海洋科学向前发展的决策。将数据用于天气和气候预报以及海洋资源管理带来了社会效益。国家研究委员会发布的《海洋变化：2015-2025年海洋科学十年调查报告》提出了八个优先科学问题之一，其中一个问题是，“海洋生物地球化学和物理过程是如何影响今天的气候及其变异性的，这个系统在下个世纪将如何变化？”GO-BGC项目将为回答这个问题做出重大贡献。迄今为止，解决这一问题的主要障碍之一是缺乏全球范围和所有季节的连续生物地球化学测量。船基生物地球化学测量是在世界海洋的选定部分对各种单独的活动进行的，但数据在时间和空间上都很稀少，这给我们在全球和区域范围内对生物地球化学过程的了解留下了重大空白。GO-BGC项目是海洋学界为解决这些差距而进行了十多年规划的结果。该项目有可能彻底改变我们对海洋在全球碳循环、全球海洋的酸化和脱氧以及生态系统生产力和健康中的作用的理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The ocean covers more than 70% of the surface of our planet. It provides services that are critical for life on Earth, including absorbing 93% of the heat from recent warming and a quarter of human carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions each year. However, rising ocean temperatures and CO2 levels fundamentally alter the marine environment: pH and oxygen levels fall, ocean currents change, and the distribution of nutrients shifts. Each of these changes has impacts on ecosystems and the cycles of oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon throughout the ocean and atmosphere. Observing these biogeochemical (BGC) processes over large areas and long time periods has been virtually impossible due to the high costs associated with ship-based measurements. Yet such observations are essential for understanding the natural state of ocean chemistry and biology and for predicting how the ocean system will evolve in the future. The Global Ocean Biogeochemistry (GO-BGC) Array project aims to drive a transformative shift in our ability to observe and predict, at the global scale, the effects of climate change on ocean metabolism, carbon uptake, and living marine resource management. The project team plans to implement an innovative and sustained robotic network of 500 profiling floats carrying chemical and biological sensors, that would take measurements from 2000-meters depth to the surface every 10 days for several years. These floats will be distributed among all of the major ocean basins and will transmit the data to shore via satellite communication systems. Data will be publicly available within 24 hours. In the past, regional arrays of BGC floats have been deployed with great success, but never has there been a global array. This global array has the potential to provide essential observational data in remote areas where there is little to no routine ship traffic and can operate in the harshest sea conditions such as winter in high-latitude environments. Such measurements from the regional SOCCOM (Southern Ocean Carbon Cycle Observations and Modeling) project have resulted in unanticipated discoveries that highlight the need for a global scale array. It is expected that this unprecedented data stream will drive a transformative shift in scientific and public understanding of chemical and biological (biogeochemical) cycling in the ocean at the global scale. The GO-BGC Project is a partnership of researchers from many of the major oceanographic institutions in the U.S. who bring experience in oceanographic data collection and analysis and in public engagement on ocean issues. The Team would engage Kindergarten-12 schools through the “Adopt-a-Float” Program, providing direct contact between students and scientists and involving students through naming and tracking individual floats. The researchers will host seminars and workshops to familiarize the research community with the data streams and how to use them. They will provide training for undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs in sensor calibration and GO-BGC float deployment and maintenance, directly contributing to the development of the "Blue Workforce." The resulting datasets will be used in classrooms, in scientific research, and in making decisions that move ocean science forward. Societal benefits arise from using the data for weather and climate forecasts as well as in marine resource management.One of the eight priority science questions that came out of the National Research Council’s Sea Change: 2015–2025 Decadal Survey of Ocean Sciences report asked, “How have ocean biogeochemical and physical processes contributed to today’s climate and its variability, and how will this system change over the next century?” The GO-BGC Project would make a major contribution toward answering that question. One of the primary impediments to addressing this question to date has been the lack of continuous biogeochemical measurements on a global scale and during all seasons. Ship-based biogeochemical measurements are made on various individual campaigns in selected parts of the world’s ocean, but data are sparse in time and space, leaving major gaps in our knowledge of biogeochemical processes on a global and regional scales. The GO-BGC Project is the result of over a decade of planning by the oceanographic community to address these gaps. The Project has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the ocean’s role in the global carbon cycle, acidification and deoxygenation of the global ocean, and ecosystem productivity and health.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.