Co-Convenors: Taro Ichii (Japan), Skip McKinnell (PICES) and Michael Seki (USA)

Invited Speaker:
Hiromichi Igarashi (Data Research Center for Marine-Earth Science, JAMSTEC, Japan)

The goal of this session is to compile a comprehensive collection of papers for the first time in two decades that can serve to synthesize knowledge of the roles of climate, physics, chemistry, biology, and humans in the Subtropical Frontal Zone (STFZ). The STFZ is a large, seasonally variable, dynamic, and complex oceanic region spanning the breadth of the North Pacific Ocean from Asia to North America. Its large-scale fronts and mesoscale processes give rise to localized “hot spots” of enhanced biological aggregation. The productivity of the region provides the ecological underpinnings for multi-national commercial fisheries. The STFZ provides important habitat for many species of fish and squid, seabirds, and marine mammals that undergo extensive seasonal migrations between the STZF and summer feeding grounds in the Subarctic. Concern for interactions between protected species, such as loggerhead turtles, and fisheries are focus areas of interest today, as is the health and productivity of the fisheries resources. Finally, interest in the effect of marine debris that is accumulating in oceanic “garbage patches” is increasing, perhaps exacerbated by growing interest in the fate of the debris field in the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami near Japan. This session would provide valuable information on potential impacts of climate and humans on marine ecosystem in the STFZ. The compilation of papers submitted to this session will be published in a special issue of Progress in Oceanography.