INTRODUCTION
Research activities in the coastal Northwest Atlantic Ocean are supported by a number of organizations including the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Ocean Sciences (OCE) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Coastal Ocean Program (COP) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). NSF/OCE generally supports research projects focused on basic oceanographic and ecological processes and the study of natural systems. A component of NOAA's COP focus is directed towards developing tools and capabilities to improve ecosystem management and NOAA/NMFS manages the nation's living marine resources. Environmental and resources management decisions are most appropriately based on knowledge gained from both basic and applied research.
This Announcement of Opportunity is under the auspices of the Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (U. S. GLOBEC) program within NSF/OCE and the regional ecosystem studies and U. S. GLOBEC initiatives of NOAA's COP. An opportunity exists for U.S. scientists to propose modeling, broad-scale and process-oriented field studies, and synthesis/comparative analysis projects that address the broad intersection of basic and applied research interests of the Northwest Atlantic Georges Bank program. This Announcement of Opportunity addresses the anticipated third and final field phase of the U.S. GLOBEC program on Georges Bank.
The anticipated funding for the Phase III activities is approximately $5 million per year for up to three years, contingent on the availability of funds. The deadline for proposals is Monday, 15 December 1997. Final recommendations for awards will be made by 15 June 1998.
Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (U. S. GLOBEC) is a component
of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, with the goals of
understanding and ultimately predicting how populations of marine
animal species (holozooplankton, fish and benthic invertebrates)
respond to natural and anthropogenic changes in global climate.
U.S. GLOBEC is also the U.S. component of the International GLOBEC
program, a core project of the IGBP (International Geosphere-Biosphere
Program), with co-sponsorship from the Scientific Committee on
Oceanic Research (SCOR) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic
Commission (IOC). The U.S. GLOBEC study in the Northwest Atlantic/Georges
Bank region is an integral part of the pan-North Atlantic Cod
and Climate Change (CCC) Program and the Trans-Atlantic Study
of Calanus (TASC) sponsored by the International Council
for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). These programs emphasize
the biology of cod and the copepod Calanus in the North
Atlantic coupled with large- and meso-scale circulation. The
Atlantic component of Canada GLOBEC recently initiated a four-year
program (1996-2000) to investigate the effect of environment on
gadoid finfish (cod and haddock) and copepods (Calanus finmarchicus
and Pseudocalanus spp.). These other national and
international investigations complement the studies being done
by U.S. GLOBEC on Georges Bank, and provide a unique opportunity
for both regional and inter-regional comparisons and the evaluation
of large-scale environmental influences (e.g., the North
Atlantic Oscillation) on these pan-North Atlantic species (cod
and Calanus).
The U.S. GLOBEC Northwest Atlantic Implementation Plan (U. S.
GLOBEC Report
No. 6) was developed following several community-wide meetings
where U.S. scientists from the oceanographic and fisheries communities
identified key scientific issues and research prospectuses for
the Northwest Atlantic region. The overall objectives of the
U.S. GLOBEC program are described in the U.S. GLOBEC Initial Science
Plan (Report No. 1). Background information pertinent to the
Northwest Atlantic is found in U.S. GLOBEC Report No. 2. Investigators
who plan to submit proposals in response to this Announcement
should refer to the Northwest Atlantic Implementation Plan (U.S.
GLOBEC Report No. 6). Copies of these documents are available
from the following address or homepage:
The recommendations contained in the U.S. GLOBEC Northwest Atlantic
Implementation Plan present the rationale for a coordinated study
in the Northwest Atlantic on Georges Bank and environs. The NW
Atlantic/Georges Bank Study is not restricted to the continental
margin and shelf, but encompasses also the processes and phenomena
of the larger oceanic boundary region that affect the Bank. The
initial phases of this inter-agency research program have supported
integrated, multi-investigator, inter-disciplinary programs of
modeling, retrospective analysis, and broad-scale and process-oriented
studies. Ultimately, the U.S. GLOBEC effort in the Northwest
Atlantic has an overall goal of improving predictability and management
of living marine resources of the region through improved understanding
of ecosystem interactions and the coupling between the physical
environment and the living resources.
Within the overall goal outlined above, the NW Atlantic/Georges
Bank Study has four general goals:
Toward these ends, the Georges Bank field program has been structured
to have alternate years of intensive study (1995, 1997, 1999).
Broad-scale studies (via ship, drifter, mooring and satellite
observations) were/will be conducted in each of the intensive
process-study years and in the intervening years (1996 and 1998).
The continuity of the broad-scale observations over 5 years (95
- 99) will provide the longer-term context for the process-oriented
investigations, and permit analysis of interannual variability
in physical forcing and biological responses. In Phase I (1995
field year), the primary focus of process studies was on vertical
mixing and stratification processes and their control over biological
rates and interactions. In Phase II (1997 field year), the primary
focus of process studies was on the sources, retention, and losses
of water and organisms from the bank. The primary focus for Phase
III (1999 field year) will be on cross-frontal exchange processes.
Although each phase has a different primary focus, information
on all processes, e.g., stratification, retention and loss, and
frontal processes, has been and will be collected during all intensive
process-study years. Specific information about the NW Atlantic/Georges
Bank Study Phase I and Phase II activities already funded [including
program description (see Wiebe et. al., 1996), cruise and meeting
reports, data archives, and bibliography] can be obtained from
the following address or homepage:
The NW Atlantic/Georges Bank Study has comprised to date four
major components: (a) broad-scale field survey and observational
studies, (b) process-oriented field studies, (c) modeling investigations,
and (d) retrospective/comparative analysis. Research conducted
during Phase III will continue to follow this four-pronged approach,
with the process study primarily focusing on cross-frontal exchange
processes and synthesis activities replacing the retrospective
analysis.
Broad-scale studies: The broad-scale studies include shipboard
surveys, multi-disciplinary moorings, long-term drifter deployments,
and analysis of satellite data. Ship-board studies are needed
to determine the distribution and abundance of the target species
in relation to their physical environment during the pelagic period
of cod and haddock larvae (January to June). The approximate
scale of the ship-based broad-scale sampling is shown in Wiebe
et al. 1996, and is also available on the web site above. In
addition, there is a continuing need for long-term mooring- and
drifter-based observations and interpretation of regional satellite
data. The fundamental importance of the broad-scale studies is
to provide the basis for multiple interannual comparisons of population
processes and their coupling to the physical structure and variability
of the environment. The broad-scale studies will provide a regional
context for the Phase III cross-frontal exchange study and provide
further data to evaluate stratification and source, retention,
and loss processes.
Process studies: To further identify and understand the
physical and biological processes that control the population
dynamics of the target species, the Phase III process studies
will primarily focus on cross-frontal exchanges. The Georges
Bank region has major frontal features around the periphery of
the Bank (the shelf/slope water front along the southern flank
of the Bank and a front between the Bank and the Gulf of Maine
waters along the northern edge of the Bank) and a tidal mixing
front located near the 60 m isobath which surrounds the well-mixed
water over the shallow crest of the Bank. The exchange of physical
and biological properties across these fronts can influence the
supply of nutrients for primary production, the retention (loss)
of the target species and their prey on (from) the Bank, and interactions
between the target species, their prey, and their predators.
Cross-frontal exchange is influenced by physical processes which
determine the location, deformation, and movement of the front
including tides, winds, seasonal heating/cooling, and offshore
forcing, and by biological characteristics and behavior which
may enhance or minimize exchange. Fronts often are regions of
aggregation for marine plankton, both because of physical processes
such as divergence or convergence and biological responses such
as enhanced production or behavior (i.e., depth-keeping swimming).
Such aggregations of plankton provide an enhanced food source
for predators including larval cod and haddock. Fine-scale description
of the physical and biological fields comprising fronts may reveal
aggregations of phytoplankton and zooplankton associated with
specific physical (e.g., density, temperature) structures.
Questions to be addressed by process studies in Phase III include:
Modeling: The research conducted during Phases I and II
will result in a significant archive of data concerning abundance
and distribution of the target species, source regions, and vital
rates. Also expected from Phase II are specific estimates of
population dynamics parameters arrived at by inverse modeling.
These archives and tools will provide significant opportunities
for hypothesis testing concerning biophysical processes. Data-assimilative
studies are expected to continue in hindcast mode throughout Phase
III, and the emergent Phase III data relative to cross-frontal
exchange will provide the opportunity to test data-assimilative
models at finer spatial scales, with resultant improvement in
the representation of these processes. In addition, process-oriented
model studies are encouraged. Finally, the large number of studies
of cod and Calanus being conducted across the North Atlantic
(e.g., the TASC, CCC, and ICES programs) provide an opportunity
for larger (basin) scale modeling of coupled biological/physical
dynamics at the basin scale.
Synthesis/comparative analyses: Efforts to synthesize
the results of U.S. GLOBEC NW Atlantic studies are encouraged
to maximize the utility of GLOBEC research to Georges Bank resource
managers and to other ecosystem-based research programs. In addition
to examining data sets emerging from this study, studies are encouraged
that will compare and integrate data from other regions (especially
the Scotian Shelf and Northeast Atlantic) with data from this
study. Such comparative studies could help separate those aspects
of animal behavior and population dynamics which respond to basin-scale
climate variability from those influenced primarily by local variability.
Synthesis and comparative studies will be useful for investigating
the physical and biological consequences of climatic variation
and should be tied to resource management needs.
Proposals submitted in response to this Announcement of Opportunity
should be prepared and submitted in accordance with the guidelines
provided in the NSF brochure, Grant Proposal Guide (GPG)
NSF 98-2. Single copies of this brochure are available at no
cost from the NSF Clearinghouse: phone (301) 947-2722, or via
e-mail from pubs@nsf.gov, or the NSF homepage (http://www.nsf.gov/).
Proposals will be subjected to initial screening for the requirements
in the GPG and will be returned without review or advance notification
if deficiencies are found. Proposals will NOT be forwarded
to other Programs if found to be inappropriate for this competition.
All proposals involving Federal and/or academic scientists must
be submitted to the address below. Federal scientists will be
eligible for funding by NOAA but not NSF. Proposals submitted
in response to this Announcement of Opportunity must be received
by 15 December 1997 and be identified by entering "
U.S. GLOBEC Northwest Atlantic NSF 97-163"
in the Program Announcement block of the cover page. Proposals
received after the deadline will be returned to the sender without
review.
Prospective investigators should provide in their proposals a
full scientific justification for the research and not simply
reiterate justifications laid out in the implementation plans.
In addition, it would be helpful if a brief statement is included
as to how proposed efforts may be co-ordinated with efforts of
other potential investigators. Because of page limitations (GPG,
page 5, Project Description), individual proposals with overly
complex structure and large numbers of investigators are discouraged.
Proposals should be written to allow adequate review of the details
of such things as goals and objectives, conceptual framework,
methodological approaches, integration with other likely projects,
and synthesis.
An original and 20 copies of the proposals should be sent to:
Proposals may also be submitted electronically. For information,
contact the Electronic Proposal Submission Program Director, Division
of Information Systems, phone (703) 306-0214, or via e-mail, eps@nsf.gov
(Internet).
If you have questions or require further information, contact
Kendra Daly or Phil Taylor NSF Division of Ocean Sciences: 703-306-1584,
(email: kdaly@nsf.gov, prtaylor@nsf.gov), or Judy Gray, NOAA Coastal
Ocean Office: 301-713-3338, (e-mail: jgray@cop.noaa.gov).
Review of proposals and support of the U. S. GLOBEC Northwest
Atlantic program will be handled cooperatively by NSF and NOAA.
Proposals will be evaluated based on the two general criteria
described in the NSF Grant Proposal Guide and in accordance with
established NSF and NOAA procedures for external merit review.
The proposal's responsiveness to the stated goals of the U. S.
GLOBEC programs at NSF/OCE and the regional ecosystem studies
and U. S. GLOBEC initiatives at the NOAA Coastal Ocean Program,
and the degree to which the proposed project complements other
proposed and ongoing research projects will also be considered
in the evaluation by panel(s) of expert scientists.
Proposals should include plans for the documentation, archiving,
and dissemination of U. S. GLOBEC research data. All funded
participants must adhere to the U.S. GLOBEC data policy
(see U.S. GLOBEC Report No.10) and to data management policies
applying to recipients of federal funding in geosciences. The U.S.
GLOBEC Data Policy is available through the U. S. GLOBEC office
and homepage. Following the review process, Federal scientists
and others who are selected to receive funding from NOAA, may be
required to submit additional forms and paperwork required by NOAA.
Grants awarded as a result of this announcement will be administered
in accordance with the terms and conditions of NSF GC-1 (10/95)
or FDP-III (7/1/96), Grant General Conditions.
Copies of these documents are available at www.nsf.gov [select
'Grants and Awards', then 'Online Document System'] or from the
NSF Forms and Publications Unit. More comprehensive information
is contained in the NSF Grant Policy Manual
(7/95) (NSF 95-26), for sale through the Superintendent
of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402.
DESCRIPTION
Department of Integrative Biology
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-3140
Phone:510-643-0877;
Fax: 510-643-1142
Internet: kaygold@uclink4.berkeley.edu
http://www.usglobec.berkeley.edu/usglobec/globec.homepage.html
THE RESEARCH PROGRAM
Program Goals
Department of Biology
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, MA 02543
Phone:508-289-2409;
Fax: 508-457-2169
Internet: rgroman@whoi.edu
http://globec.whoi.edu/
Structure of the Phase III Research Program
PROPOSAL FORMAT
PROPOSAL SUBMISSION
Biological Oceanography Program
Division of Ocean Sciences
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Blvd., Room 725
Arlington, VA 22230
PROPOSAL REVIEW
GRANT ADMINISTRATION
