Continental Margins Open Science Conference

Continental Margins Open Science Conference – China 17-21 September

Abstract submission 1st June 2007

IMBER ( http://www.imber.info/) and LOICZ ( http://www.loicz.org/) are jointly organizing a Continental Margins Open Science Conference which will be held September 17-21, 2007 at East China Normal University (ECNU), Shanghai, China.

This conference will provide a discussion platform for highlighting the most recent advances in the field and try to identify emerging directions and future research challenges. The conference is open to all students and scientists involved in biogeochemical cycles and ecosystems in the continental margins.

Coastal zones play a key role in Earth System functioning, by contributing significantly to the life support systems of most societies. The coastal system is experiencing global and natural pressure, such as atmospheric and open ocean-shelf exchange, that are also modified by local and human forcings. The larger scale forcings include proximity to large river plumes, physiography of the continental shelf, and human forcings that modify atmospheric deposition across broad shelf areas. These global, local, and human pressures interactively impact on biogeochemical cycles and the marine food webs and have direct consequences for society.

The Conference, while building on biogeochemical advances from international programs such as JGOFS and LOICZ, aims to take the next steps in:
· linking the biogeochemical cycles of the coastal and open oceans,
· linking organisms, including higher organisms, to biogeochemical processes,
· moving past the present-day status and incorporating response/prediction to the global and local changes,
· exploring the function and possible future changes of the continental shelf pump and the climate related biogeochemistry of continental margins, and
· assessing the variability and sustainability of the continental margin ecosystems

More information is now available on the conference website
http://www.confmanager.com/main.cfm?cid=792

If you have any questions about the conference, please contact: shanghai.osc@univ-brest. fr

We look forward to meeting you in Shanghai.