Ocean Circulation and Climate Variability in the Subarctic Pacific. Convenors for this session are Prof. Paul LeBlond, Dr. James E. Overland, and Prof. Stephen C. Riser. This session will focus on formation of subarctic intermediate water, absorption of CO2 and its circulation in the subarctic, status of numerical modeling, long-term variation in the water properties and circulation, and characteristics of the subarctic gyre and their impact on climate.
High-Resolution Paleoecological Studies in the Subarctic Pacific. Prof. Michael M. Mullin will convene this session, which will consider studies of foraminifera and fish scales in sediments, isotope analysis, tree rings and other proxy techniques to reconstruct ocean conditions, species dominance and biological productivity in the North Pacific over the last millennium.
Priority Chemical and Biological Contaminants in the North Pacific Ecosystem. This session, convened by Dr. Ushi Varanasi, will include national overviews and new approaches to assess impacts of sewage discharge, waste dumping, anthropogenic chemicals, fisheries and agricultural processing wastes, and ballast water contaminants in the North Pacific. Impact of transport of these contaminants from nearshore to offshore waters, and on natural biogeochemical processes and cycling, will also be considered.
Shifts in Fish Abundance and Species Dominance in Coastal Seas. Convenors for this session are Prof. Qi-Sheng Tang and Dr. Alec D. MacCall. The session will emphasize low frequency, long-term fluctuations in plankton and fish stocks, rates of resource production, and coincident changes in their ecosystems. These fluctuations may last for decades, and may be punctuated by sudden changes, creating unmanageable "boom-and-bust" cycles with severe social and economic consequences. Relationships to ocean and global climate will be discussed. Problems of prediction or detection, and strategies for adaptive resource management may also be explored.
Long-Term Monitoring from Platforms of Opportunity. Dr. Charles B. Miller will convene this session, which will address possibilities for long-term monitoring of physical and biological conditions in the subarctic gyre and North Pacific coastal ecosystems. This monitoring would utilize satellite remote sensing, X-CTD mapping, drifting buoys, pollution monitoring, collection of trans-Pacific continuous plankton recorder data from ships of opportunity, and other potential monitoring sources, along with associated statistical and data management issues.
Scientific sessions will include invited and contributed papers on these topics, as well as contributed papers on other subjects of interest to the committees. Contributed papers will be selected for oral or poster presentation. Registration materials may be requested from the PICES Secretariat c/o Institute of Ocean Sciences, P.O. Box 6000, Sidney, B.C., Canada V8L 4B2 (Phone: 604-363-6366; FAX: 604-363-6827; Omnet: PICES.SEC; Internet: pices@ios.bc.ca). Deadline for registering is September 24, 1993.
