CANADA
National Contact	Maurice Levasseur
Email	maurice.levasseurbio.ulaval.ca
Website	http://www.quebec-ocean.ulaval.ca/C-SOLAS/index.htm
Full Reports (pdf file)	Nov 02 Nov 07

 

Current status of SOLAS planning

Following from the SOLAS Open Science Meeting in Damp, Germany, in February 2000, a Canadians SOLAS Workshop was convened at McGill University, Montreal, in June, 2000. A Scientific Advisory Committee was elected and tasked to pursue funding for a Canadian SOLAS Network. A nationwide call for participation resulted in the submission of 28 separate proposals for inclusion in the Network. The Canadian SOLAS Network proposal was submitted in October 2000.

The Canadian SOLAS Network was jointly funded at $8.9 million by Canada’s National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS) with substantial additional support from the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to support activities planned over 5 years. Official announcement and press release occurred September 21, 2001.

The C-SOLAS Network includes forty-three Canadian Ph.D. scientists working on fifteen coordinated projects centred on three themes:
(1) Biogeochemical interactions and feedback between the ocean and atmosphere
(2) Exchange processes at the ocean-atmosphere interface.
(3) Integration and modelling of interaction between the ocean and atmosphere.

Oceanic and atmospheric data will result from two large field efforts (an Fe patch experiment in the N.E. Pacific during July 2002, and a spring bloom experiment in the N.W. Atlantic in 2003) and 5 other cruises (178 total days at sea during 2002-03) and a mooring in each ocean to collect temporal data for coordination with linked ocean-atmosphere models.

The July Fe Addition expedition to Station Papa (tagged SERIES: the Subarctic Ecosystem Response to Iron Enrichment Study) involved three ships: the Canadian vessel, J.P. Tully, the Mexican vessel, el Puma, and the Japanese vessel, Kaiyo-Maru. Early feedback indicates an unqualified success. See:

"The decline and fate of an iron-induced subarctic phytoplankton bloom" Boyd PW, et al. NATURE 428 (6982): 549-553 APR 1 2004

 

Future plans for national activities

As of May 2004, Canadian SOLAS has completed its first phase of fieldwork and is preparing its renewal proposal.