Co-Convenors: Silvana Birchenough (ICES/UK), Steven Bograd (PICES/USA), Arthur Chen (IGBP),
Masao Ishii (PICES/Japan) and Tony Koslow (PICES/USA)

Invited Speakers:
Curtis Deutsch (University California Los Angeles, USA)
Akihiko Murata (JAMSTEC, Japan)
Brad Seibel (University of Rhode Island, USA)

Ocean biogeochemistry is undergoing rapid and growing anthropogenic change. A significant fraction of anthropogenic CO₂ is taken up by the ocean, which drives down pH and reduces the saturation state of carbonate minerals like calcite and aragonite, a process known as “ocean acidification”. Global climate models also predict that dissolved oxygen concentrations in the deep ocean will decline by 20-40% over the coming century or so as global warming enhances stratification of the upper mixed layer and reduces ventilation of the deep ocean. Declining oxygen levels have now been reported from mid-ocean depths in the tropical oceans and across the North Pacific. Both processes are of particular concern in the North Pacific, where the water is naturally “old” and has shallow carbonate saturation horizons, relatively low buffering capacity, and extensive oxygen minimum zones. It is anticipated that these anthropogenic influences on the global ocean will increase in coming decades as atmospheric CO₂ levels and global temperatures continue to rise. We invite papers on the changing biogeochemistry of the global ocean, its impacts on organisms and ecosystem function, and emergent impacts on biogochemical cycles related to the interaction of ocean acidification and declining oxygen with climate change and other anthropogenic impacts.