FOCUS: What, When, How, and Why?

The field of Chemical Oceanography has not received a thorough overview, assessing both status and trajectories, for a considerable period of time. Recognizing this need, the National Science Foundation has set in motion a process to allow this assessment to proceed in as efficient, yet open, fashion possible. This process will provide everyone in the marine science community an opportunity to reflect on the nature of the field, its relationship to allied fields, its accomplishments over the past couple of decades, the directions in which it seems to be heading, and infrastructural aspects of all of the foregoing. This assessment will help provide context for future actions within the NSF, although the process and its products should by no means be regarded as a priority-setting exercise.

The structure of the process will resemble the parallel efforts within the geological, physical, and biological oceanographic communities. Of these, the geological group has already completed their program, and has issued a report entitled FUMAGES. The physical and biological oceanographers are proceeding roughly at the same time as the chemical community; their pages can be reached at APROPOS and CRAE. It is hoped that there will be cross-fertilization among these efforts, in keeping with the interdisciplinary orientation of oceanography.

This process should identify the status of chemical oceanography, assess the directions in which it seems to be heading, identify possible avenues of important research that are not readily apparent, and assess the infrastructure (people , facilities) that make it all possible. To achieve these objectives, a Steering Committee has been formed to conduct a ten-month process. The major event will be a workshop, to be held in January, 1998 at which the various objectives will be discussed by a group of about forty persons. Most of these persons will represent various areas of the chemical oceanographic community, with some representation from other fields. This workshop will produce a report that will consist of the three objectives at the head of this paragraph. Along with other inputs, this report will be issued in March 1998.

This workshop will work toward its goals in conjunction with broader community involvement. First, this web-page provides opportunity for general community discussion of the objectives during the entire process. In December 1997, there will be posted draft copies of the eight status documents:

Biogeochemical Cycles
Sources and Sinks
Ocean-Atmosphere Chemistry
Chemical Indicators and Ocean History
Physical Chemistry of the Oceans
Sedimentary Processes
Organic Matter
Anthropogenic Effects on the Oceans
Chemical Analyses and Approaches

These papers will be posted in draft form to allow commentary from the community for a month prior to the workshop. About two weeks after the workshop, we will post both the revised drafts of these papers and the workshop reports on future trends and cross-cutting issues such as technology, education, and facilities. Further community input will be possible via both this web-site and an evening special session to be held at the AGU-ASLO Ocean Sciences Meeting in San Diego, February 9-13, 1998. The web-page input will be continued until the demand for further discussion wanes. The results will be compiled and meshed with the other sources of discussion, and the final report will be issued shortly thereafter. Its distribution will include posting on this web-site and hardcopy.

For further information on the FOCUS Workshop, please contact Cathy Clark of UCAR-JOSS at focus@joss.ucar.edu.

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