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Sponsorship of ICED (Integrating Climate and Ecosystem Dynamics)

SCAR partners SCOR in sponsorship of the IGBP Integrated Analyses of Circumpolar Climate Interactions and Ecosystem Dynamics in the Southern Ocean (ICED) programme.

The Delegates at XXVIII SCAR urged the SSGs to pay more attention in future in our development of SCAR scientific research activities to the interactions between physics, biology and chemistry in the Southern Ocean. One way in which the biogeochemical side of things is now developing is through the programme entitled ICED.

The ICED Science Plan and Implementation Strategy is available to download from the ICED website.

ICED in effect replaces Southern Ocean JGOFS (Joint Global Ocean Flux Study) and Southern Ocean GLOBEC, both of which are now complete. ICED is a regional programme of IMBER (the IGBP's Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystems Research programme).

First Science Planning Workshop for Climate and Ecosystems in the Southern Ocean, May 2005

The science planning workshop for the ICED programme (Integrated Analyses of Circumpolar Climate Interactions and Ecosystem Dynamics in the Southern Ocean) took place at the British Antarctic Survey during 24-26 May 2005. Sponsors included SCAR, SCOR (Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research), Southern Ocean GLOBEC (Global Ecosystems Dynamics programme), and IMBER (the Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research programme), which is itself a global programme co-sponsored by IGBP (International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme) and SCOR. In effect, ICED is a Southern Ocean component of IMBER. The goal of the workshop was to produce a science plan. ICED brings together climatologists, oceanographers, biogeochemists, ecosystem and fisheries scientists to generate unique circumpolar databases and models to address three globally important questions:

  1. how do climate processes affect the dynamics of circumpolar ecosystems?
  2. how does ecosystem structure affect circumpolar ocean biogeochemical cycles?
  3. how should ecosystem structure and dynamics be included in the development of sustainable approaches to managing exploitation?

ICED is a natural descendant of recent global programmes with a Southern Ocean dimension: (a) the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), which focused on the carbon cycle; (b) GLOBEC, (c) the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE); (d) a number of programmes of CCAMLR; and (e) the completed Biological Investigations of Marine Antarctic Systems and Stocks (BIOMASS) programme. ICED will collaborate closely with the examinations of the physical aspects of Southern Ocean circulation that are being undertaken by the CLIVAR/CliC/SCAR Southern Ocean Implementation Panel.

ICED group photo

Attendees at the 1st ICED science planning workshop, British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, May 24-25, 2005.