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Projects and Programs

New Project Opportunities

The Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry (OCB) Program fosters national and international collaboration through the distribution of information via multiple communication outlets, including a growing email list, a regular newsletter, and a strong web presence, including this website for international North Atlantic-Arctic research coordination. These various media represent a platform for developing international science teams to pursue collaborative research in the North Atlantic-Arctic system. OCB and its partner programs’ collective access to such a large faction of the oceanographic research community will be pivotal in the formation of PI teams that span disciplines and national borders to address the important North Atlantic-Arctic science questions. OCB will utilize its communication outlets to publicize funding opportunities and proposed and/or newly funded North Atlantic-Arctic projects.

Please submit information on new projects and funding opportunities to the OCB Office.

European Union

Please contact us to add your project to this list:

1. EU ERA-Nets

There are several marine ERA-Nets highlighting joint programming and joint calls in the EU with activities focused on establishing links with North American funding agencies.

  • MarinERA Joint call: Regional Drivers of Ecosystem Change, Description, Modelling and Prediction – five projects funded by the EU member states
  • SEAS-ERA Joint programming: Strategic Analyses for the Atlantic region. The project has as one of its goals to develop collaborations with the US and Canada. Activities:
    • Workshop on Climate Change in the North Atlantic Ocean
    • SEAS-ERA joint calls:
      • Ecosystem approach and ecosystem models for North Atlantic Ocean
      • Risk assessment of invasive alien species - changes in marine biodiversity

Note: Three projects on the aforementioned topics have been funded by the partners.

  • BiodivERsA: An ERA-Net promoting pan-European research that offers innovative opportunities for the conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity
  • MARINE-BIOTECH (CSA-Support Action) The main goal of the CSA MarineBiotech is to prepare the foundation for a future ERA-NET in the area of marine biotechnology.
  • COFASP (ERANET) Cooperation in Fisheries, Aquaculture and Seafood Processing. The objective of COFASP is to strengthen cooperation and synergies between major European funding agencies that support research on sustainable exploitation of marine renewable resources.

2. Joint Programming, JPI Oceans

The Joint Programming Initiative Healthy and Productive Seas and Oceans (JPI Oceans) is a long-term initiative driven by 18 EU Member States and Associated Countries aimed at coordinating the marine and maritime research activities of participating countries by aligning national priorities and investments. The objective is to tackle the grand challenges that oceans and seas are facing and make a more efficient use of the available funding and resources. JPI Oceans follows a crosscutting approach focusing on issues lying in the intersections of three major areas; 1) marine environment, 2) climate change and 3) maritime economy/human activities. JPI Oceans also addresses marine research infrastructures, monitoring, observations, data-collection and human capacity building, which are essential to facilitate the development of knowledge to address major marine and maritime societal issues of cross-cutting nature to support the implementation of EU policies. JPI Oceans also has an international dimension, and links to the US and Canada are anticipated.

3. Funded and completed EU funded projects upon which to develop collaborations

Programme Focus Key: Ecosystem = ECO, Ocean Acidification = OA, Biodiversity = BD, Ecosystem Based Management = EM, Climate/carbon = CC

  • AtlantOS: Optimizing and Enhancing the Integrated Atlantic Ocean Observing System
  • ATP: Arctic Tipping Points; Focus: ECO
  • CarboChange: Changes in carbon uptake and emissions by oceans in a changing climate (project has ended), Included US (Princeton) and Canadian (Dalhousie) partners. Focus: CC.
  • CarbonBridge: Bridging marine productivity regimes – i.e. how Atlantic advection affects productivity, carbon cycling and export in a melting Arctic Ocean. Focus: CC, ECO
  • CLAMER: Climate change and European Marine Ecosystems Research. Focus:  ECO, CC
  • CLEANSEA: Towards a Clean, Litter-Free European Marine Environment through Scientific Evidence, Innovative tools and Good Governance. Links with US and Canada (unclear but high potential) Focus: EM
  • CoralFISH: Interactions between corals, fish and fisheries. Focus: ECO, BD
  • DEVOTES: Development of innovative Tools for understanding marine biodiversity and assessing good environmental status. Links with US and Canada (unclear but high potential) Focus: BD, EM
  • DS3F: The Deep Sea and Sub-Seafloor Frontier. Focus: ECO
  • ECO2:  Sub-Seabed CO2 Storage: Impact on Marine Ecosystems. Links with US and Canada (unclear but high potential) Focus: EM, ECO
  • EPOCA: European Project on Ocean Acidification (project has ended). Focus: OA
  • EURO-ARGO: Global ocean observing infrastructure Links with US and Canada. Focus: CC
  • EUROBASIN: EU Basin scale analysis, synthesis and integration component of BASIN programme. Links with US/Canadian partners. Focus: ECO, CC
  • EUROSITES: European Deep ocean observatories. (Links with US and Canada) Focus: CC
  • FACTS: Forage Fish Interactions. Links with Canada. Focus: ECO
  • FORCE: Future of reefs in a Changing Environment: An ecosystem approach to managing Caribbean coral reefs in the face of climate change. Links with US and Canada (unclear but high potential) Focus: EM, ECO
  • Fram Strait Observatory: Monitoring volume, heat and salt (freshwater) exchanges between the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean; Alfred Wegener Institute (HAUSGARTEN) and the Norwegian Polar Institute operate a set of moorings along ~79°N Focus: CC
  • GreenSeas: Development of Global plankton database and model system for eco-climate early warning. Links with US and Canada (unclear but high potential) Focus: EM, ECO
  • HERMIONE: Hotspot Ecosystem Research and Man’s Impact on European Seas Focus: ECO
  • HYDRONET: Floating Sensorised Networked Robots for Water Monitoring. Focus: EM
  • HYPOX: In situ monitoring of oxygen depletion in hypoxic ecosystems of coastal and open seas, and land-locked water bodies. Focus: EM
  • KnowSeas: Knowledge based Sustainable Management for Europe’s Seas. Links with US and Canada (unclear but high potential) Focus: EM
  • Mare incognitum: - Unraveling the mysteries of Arctic marine systems (ecological processes during the polar night) Focus: ECO
  • MedSeA: Mediterranean Sea acidification in a changing climate. Focus: OA
  • MEECE: Marine ecosystem evolution in a changing environment. (FP7 Project: Marine Ecosystem Evolution in a Changing Environment Contract number: 212085)  Focus: ECO, OA, EM
  • MEFEPO: Making the European Fisheries Ecosystem Operational. Focus: EM
  • MicroPolar[µP]: Processes and players in marine pelagic food webs biogeochemistry, environment and climate change. Focus: CC, ECO
  • MIDTAL: Microarrays for the detection of toxic algae. Links with US and Canada; (unclear but high potential) Focus: EM
  • NACLIM: North Atlantic Climate. Links with US and Canada (unclear but high potential). Focus: CC
  • ODEMM: Options for Delivering Ecosystem-Based Marine Management. Links with US and Canada limited. Focus: EM
  • PAST4FUTURE: Climate Change: Learning from the past climate. Links with Canada. Focus: CC
  • PEGASO: People for Ecosystem based Governance in assessing the sustainable development of Ocean and coast. Links with US and Canada (unclear but high potential) Focus: EM
  • PERSEUS: Policy oriented marine Environmental research in Southern European Seas. Links with US and Canada limited. Focus: EM, ECO
  • THOR: Thermohaline Overturning – at Risk. Focus: CC
  • TRACES: The Trans-Atlantic Coral Ecosystem Study investigates the biodiversity, connectivity and climate records associated with cold-water coral habitats along the continental shelf break and slope and with seamounts in the North Atlantic Ocean. Links with Canada and the US exist. Focus: BD
  • VECTORS: Vectors of Change in Oceans and Seas Marine Life, Impact on Economic Sectors; aims to improve our understanding of how environmental and man-made factors are impacting marine ecosystems now and how they will do so in the future. Focus: ECO, CC, OA
  • WISER:  Water bodies in Europe: Integrative Systems to assess Ecological status and Recovery. Links with US and Canada (unclear but high potential). Focus: EM

Canada

Network Centers of Excellence

  • ArcticNet (2004-2018)
  • MEOPAR (Marine Environmental Observation Prediction and Response Network) (2012-2026)

Projects run under NSERC Climate Change and Atmospheric Research (CCAR) Program (2013-2018)

  • VITALS (Ventilation, Interactions and Transports Across the Labrador Sea)
  • Canadian Arctic GEOTRACES
  • NETCARE (Network on Climate and Aerosols: Addressing Key Uncertainties in Remote Canadian Environments)

Joint Canada/US program in the Canada Basin

DFO’s monitoring programs in the western Atlantic

  • AZMP (Atlantic Zone Monitoring Program)
  • AZOMP (Atlantic Zone Off-Shelf Monitoring Program, initiated in 1990)

Canada Excellence Chairs (CERC)

Participation in international programs

  • OSNAP (US-led). Canadian PIs: Blair Greenan (DFO) & Brad de Young (Memorial U)
  • Redfish Survey (Iceland). Canadian PI: Doug Wallace (Dalhousie)
  • CarbonBridge (Norway). Canadian PI: Jean-Éric Tremblay
  • TRANSSIZ (ART). Canadian PIs: Jean-Éric Tremblay, Marcel Babin, Christine Michel

Planned initiatives

  • GreenEdge (lead PI: Marcel Babin, Université Laval): GreenEdge aims to understand the dynamics of ice-edge spring blooms (IEBs) and determine their role in the Arctic Ocean of tomorrow.  More specifically, the project seeks to 1) understand the key physical, chemical and biological processes that govern IEBs, 2) identify the key phytoplankton species involved in IEBs and model their growth under various environmental conditions, and 3) predict the fate of IEBs and related carbon transfer through the food chain and toward the bottom sediments over the next few decades. To reach the first objective, a spring bloom event will be monitored (2016 target) in Baffin Bay, from its onset under melting sea ice in May to its conclusion within the seasonal ice zone in July.  The distribution of relevant physical, chemical and biological properties will be described at various time and space scales using a fleet of profiling floats and gliders and an autonomous underwater vehicle, all equipped with a suite of physical and bio-optical sensors.  Process studies will be conducted from an ice camp and then from a research icebreaker to document phytoplankton growth, nutrient dynamics and the transfer of carbon through the food web and toward the bottom sediments.  To reach the second objective, key phytoplankton species will be isolated and grown in the laboratory under various conditions to model their response to environmental factors and to understand their succession during spring.  Finally, the third objective will be reached using a coupled physical-biological model optimized for simulating the spring bloom in the Arctic Ocean and for predicting changes in the phytoplankton community composition.  Additionally, past and present trends in the intensity and spatial distribution of the spring bloom will be documented using a paleoceanography approach, and using remote sensing.
  • Baffin Bay observatory:This initiative aims to coordinate and leverage existing observation capacities (from academia and federal agencies) to develop a full-fledged observatory of Arctic outflows across major gateways (Lancaster Sound and Nares Strait) to Baffin Bay, freshwater inputs from Greenland and Canadian glaciers, as well as the response of the Bay’s interior to these changes. The project would involve fixed and mobile autonomous sampling (including an acoustic positioning system) with ship-based and shore-based process studies. Current partners involve the three Canadian CERCS (see section 5), ArcticNet and the Arctic Science Partnership (http://www.asp-net.org) between Canadian, Danish and Greenlandic scientists. Discussions are underway with potential partners involved with bordering observatories (e.g., Davis Strait).