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Program NewsBiological Oceanography
/ Chemical Oceanography / Physical
Integrated Carbon Cycle Research ProgramNSF has begun making the first research awards under the new Integrated Carbon Cycle Research (ICCR) initiative. The Chemical Oceanography Program worked with our program officer colleagues in Physical Oceanography, Marine Geology and Geophysics, and Biological Oceanography in OCE as well as with our new partners in the Divisions of Earth Sciences and Atmospheric Sciences to administer the GEO-wide proposal competition. Altogether, we reviewed 194 proposals, organized as 138 multi-institutional collaborative projects, requesting $120.4M. The 100 ocean-oriented proposals were organized as 59 projects that requested a total of $70.3M. It is interesting (but not surprising) that ocean scientists were about 1.7 times more likely to work on multi-institutional, collaborative teams than their terrestrial/atmospheric counterparts. Likewise, the requested cost of ocean-oriented projects also tended to be significantly higher than their terrestrial/atmospheric counterparts (by a factor of 1.8). Eight of the ocean-oriented carbon projects were recommended for funding in FY 2002, seven through the JGOFS “ramp-down” funds from the CO Program and one with BO JGOFS ramp-down funds. The total FY 2002 commitment is approximately $3.0M. In addition, the CO Program expects to contribute FY 2003 ramp-down funds toward the Repeat CO2/CLIVAR Global Hydrographic Survey, which is managed and funded collaboratively with the NSF Physical Oceanography Program and NOAA-OGP. The Survey will build on the past successes of the WOCE/JGOFS programs and will include observations of a number of new variables (e.g., dissolved iron, 13C, new tracers). Staff ChangesIn July, we sort of said good-bye to Peter Milne, who completed a two-year rotation as Associate Director in the CO Program. It was a “sort-of” good-bye because he’s actually just moved down the hall. Before returning to his homeport at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences in Miami, Peter will spend at least one more year at NSF in the Lower Atmospheric Facilities Oversight Section in the Division of Atmospheric Sciences. While we will certainly miss his devotion, hard work, and camaraderie in CO, we are confident that both NSF and the oceanographic community will continue to benefit from his efforts in our sister Division. And while on the subject of Program staffing, we should also mention that the search for both a permanent program officer and a (two-year) rotator in CO are well underway. If you or an experienced marine chemist or marine geochemist you know may be interested in either of these positions, now or in the future, please contact us.
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