Acronym: IMBER
Program: Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry [OCB]
URL: Project Web Site
Start date: 2004
End date:
Geolocation: global
Description:

IMBER research will seek to identify the mechanisms by which marine life influences marine biogeochemical cycles, and how these, in turn, influence marine ecosystems. Central to the IMBER goal is the development of a predictive understanding of how marine biogeochemical cycles and ecosystems respond to complex forcings, such as large-scale climatic variations, changing physical dynamics, carbon cycle chemistry and nutrient fluxes, and the impacts of marine harvesting. Changes in marine biogeochemical cycles and ecosystems due to global change will also have consequences for the broader Earth System. An even greater challenge will be drawing together the natural and social science communities to study some of the key impacts and feedbacks between the marine and human systems.

To address the IMBER goal, four scientific themes, each including several issues, have been identified for the IMBER project:

Theme 1. Interactions between Biogeochemical Cycles and Marine Food Webs

Theme 2. Sensitivity to Global Change: How will key marine biogeochemical cycles, ecosystems and their interactions, respond to global change?

Theme 3. Feedback to the Earth System: What are the roles of the ocean biogeochemistry and ecosystems in regulating climate?

Theme 4. Responses of Society: What are the relationships between marine biogeochemical cycles, ecosystems, and the human system?

IMBER Data Portal

The IMBER project has chosen to create a metadata portal hosted by the NASA's Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). The GCMD IMBER data catalog provides an overview of all IMBER endorsed and related projects and links to datasets, and can be found at http://gcmd.gsfc.nasa.gov/KeywordSearch/Home.do?Portal=imber&MetadataType=0.

International programmes:

SOLAS: Surface Ocean – Lower Atmosphere Study (http://www.solas-int.org/)

LOICZ: Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (http://www.loicz.org/)

GLOBEC: Global Ocean Ecoystem Dynamics (http://www.globec.org/)

Regional Programmes:

CLIOTOP: CLimate Impacts on Oceanic TOp Predators (http://web.pml.ac.uk/globec/structure/regional/cliotop/cliotop.htm)

ICED: Integrating Climate and Ecosystem Dynamics in the Southern Ocean (http://www.iced.ac.uk/index.htm)

ESSAS: Ecosystem Studies of Sub-Arctic Seas (http://www.globec.org/structure/regional/essas/essas.htm)

SIBER: Sustained Indian Ocean Biogeochemical and Ecological Research (http://www.imber.info/SIBER.html)

Contributing projects:

CARBOOCEAN: http://www.carboocean.org/

EUR-OCEANS Consortium: http://www.eur-oceans.eu/project/EUR-OCEANS_Consortium.php

---

More information about project Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research
Funding
Datasets associated with Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research
Platform deployments associated with Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research
People associated with Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research