GT-Med - Background information

GEOTRACES

GEOTRACES is an international study of the marine biogeochemical cycles of trace elements and their isotopes. It arrives at a time when significant technical advances in clean sampling and analysis for trace elements have not led to the evident potential achievements in trace element biogeochemistry, primarily due to a lack of a global coordinated effort in that direction. Its guiding mission is:

To identify processes and quantify fluxes
that control the distributions of key trace elements and isotopes in the ocean,
and to establish the sensitivity of these distributions
to changing environmental conditions.

This mission is supported by three goals, which - in turn - will be pursued by research strategies organized under three corresponding themes:

Goals	Themes
1. To determine global ocean distributions of selected trace elements and isotopes – including their concentration, chemical speciation and physical form – and to evaluate the sources, sinks, and internal cycling of these species to characterise more completely the physical, chemical and biological processes regulating their distributions.	1. Fluxes and processes at ocean interfaces: Atmospheric deposition Continental run-off The sediment-water boundary Ocean crust
2. To understand the processes involved in oceanic trace-element cycles sufficiently well that the response of these cycles to global change can be predicted, and their impact on the carbon cycle and climate understood.	2. Internal cycling: Uptake and removal from surface waters Uptake and regeneration in the sub-surface ocean Regeneration at the seafloor Physical circulation
3. To understand the processes that control the concentrations of geochemical species used for proxies of the past environment, both in the water column and in the substrates that reflect the water column.	3. Development of proxies for past change: Factors controlling ‘direct’ proxy distribution in the ocean Factors influencing the distribution of ‘indirect’ proxies in the ocean Palaeoceanographic tracers based on sediment flux

The GEOTRACES research activities are global in scope, and consist of ocean sections complemented by regional process studies. Sections and process studies combine fieldwork, laboratory experiments and modelling.

This work will naturally result in capacity building, the creation of a international network of marine scientists who understand trace element cycling sufficiently well to use this knowledge reliably in future interdisciplinary studies.

Synthesis and modelling of GEOTRACES findings will produce a more accurate understanding of changing ocean conditions in the past, and it will improve our ability to incorporate trace element cycles into models to predict ocean responses to future global change.

Synthesis and modelling activities will benefit from collaborating with contemporary programmes sharing several common goals, such as CLIVAR, IMBER, SOLAS, LOICZ, IMAGES/PAGES, InterRidge, InterMARGINS, etc.

GEOTRACES activities will be organised under the direction of an International Programme Office, overseen by the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR). SCOR is providing administrative support at present, but funding for the vast majority of GEOTRACES activities must be raised from other sources.

For more information, please visit the global GEOTRACES web-site at www.geotraces.org. The source for the above information was the GEOTRACES Science Plan (pdf file, available on-line from the GEOTRACES publications page).

GEOTRACES in the Mediterranean

The GEOTRACES Atlantic Ocean Workshop - September 2007

During the Atlantic Ocean workshop in Oxford in September of 2007, a working group met to discuss potential GEOTRACES-related activities in the Mediterranean. Participants from seven countries met and discussed processes and features of interest in this marginal sea. These included:

Atlantic Ocean water entering and traversing the Mediterranean and changes in its chemical signal during this process.
Sites of formation of intermediate/deep waters in both basins and the evolution of their chemical signal.
Sites of shelf-basin exchange, e.g., riverine input. Regions of dust deposition and geochemical processes associated with such events.
Diverse topographic features, e.g., shelves, sills, abyssal plains, seamounts.
An inter-calibration site on the Atlantic Ocean side of the Straits of Gibraltar.

and, based on these, they drafted potential cruise sections (you may see the evolution of this work on the working map).

The ASLO Aquatic Sciences 2009 Meeting - January 2009

During the ASLO Aquatic Sciences 2009 Meeting in Nice, France, several interested individuals from five countries met informally and discussed GEOTRACES in the Mediterranean further. New individuals were informed of the international project, the developing effort for the Mediterranean, as well as of the relevant COST Action (ES0801), which had already been funded by the ESF. The key points that emerged from the discussion were:

A scientific action plan for GEOTRACES activities in the Mediterranean would be beneficial.
Funding opportunities (e.g., 7th Framework Program of the EU, other EU and regional funding programs) should be explored further.
Participation from other EU member states as well as southern Mediterranean countries should be pursued.

The 2nd Action ES0801 Management Committee Meeting - April 2009

A special talk, outlining the background on GEOTRACES and the Mediterranean, as well as suggestions for future actions, was presented by Catherine Jeandel and collaborators during the April 2009 meeting of the Management Committee of Action ES0801 in Vigo, Spain. The full talk can be downloaded from the Action web-site (http://costaction.earth.ox.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/12294/Jeandel.pdf).

The GEOTRACES Mediterranean Planning Workshop - October 2010

A special GEOTRACES Mediterranean Planning Workshop is being planned for the 4-6 October 2010 in Nice, France. Please see the following for more information:

The workshop web-site.
The second announcement flyer for the Workshop.
A summary for the motivation to carry out GEOTRACES activities in the Mediterranean (excerpt from the Vigo 2009 MC meeting mentioned above).

We would like to welcome your input as to the development of GEOTRACES in the Mediterranean. Please let us know of your opinions and ideas by getting involved.