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ROLE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY IN OCEAN SCIENCE 



The Department of Eneryy supports long-term interdiscipiinary studies in acean science as 

 part of Its concern for the sustainable development of energy resources and the disrarsal 

 and fate of energy-related matarials (including radionudldea, trace metals, synthetic crganlcs. 

 Iiydrccarbons, and most recentiy COJ in the environment. It s believed that the ocean may 

 be 3 large 3inl< for emissions or atmospheric COj resulting from energy production via fossii- 

 fuei combustion and that carbon is currency for marina ecoaystema and for marina resources. 

 The Office of Energy Research, througn trie Office of Health and Environmental Research, is 

 currently supporting university and national laboratory scientiats lo conduct molecular to 

 glob;tUscaie studies within four coordinated ocean-science components. 



(1) Produce a global desaiotion of tfie oceanic cardonata system for quantifying ocean 

 sources and sinks *or atmospheric CO, and for linking global ocean-atmosptiere and 

 carbon-cycle models. This research is conducted in partnership with the Joint Global 

 Ocean Fiux Study (JGOFS) and the Worid Ocsancgraphic Circulation Experiment 

 (WOCE). 



{2) D«valop advanced instrvmentation. n»w moleculsr-biological techniques, and 



mathematical models fcr, respectively: measuring the ocean's yhysicai, chemical, 

 biological, and optical state 3rd obtaining high frequency in-situ measurements of the 

 factors affecting caroon fluxes; examining how organisms adapt and respond to 

 environmental stresses associated with energy-related activities- and predictirq 

 changes In the CO. content of the ocean and atmosphere that may result from fcssi'. 

 fuel combusticn. 



(3) Conduct an integrated multidiadfjlinaiy field expenmsnt in U. S. coasts/ waters 

 (Ocean Margins Program) In FY IS9S lo assess the sources, sinks, transformations, 

 and exchange of caroon and other energy-ielated materials at the lard/ocean 

 interface and thereby increase the fundamental understanding of the impact of 

 energy-related activities on coastal ecological systems. 



(4) Dp.\jelop the modeis necessary to predict accurately climate change on decade and 

 longftr time scales and to understand the natural vanabiiity of the ocean and coupled 

 ocean atmosphere systems (the DOE Program for Climate Prediction): The 

 Semtn*r.^hen;in global ocean model has been recognized internationally and adapted 

 to perform coupled model runs as part of the 1995 intenristional climate change 

 aseaesment. in FV 199fi, coupied atmosphere-ocean-land surface-sea ice models 

 based on the next generation component models will be completed and ready fcr use 

 in climate prediction and climate change assessment Tne near-term objective is to 

 provide verified, high reaolution coupled models that will simulate the globai climate of 

 the last century, including measures of variahilify. without flux ccn-ection or climate 

 dnfl. 



Ounng these times of fiscal constraint, government downsizini], and program reengineenng, 

 the Department of Energy agrees that it is extremely important to devslop partnerships 

 Petween the federal agenciee, private industries, and academic communitifls to coordinate 

 research and development tsITorts and tc make efficient use of distributed capabilities and 

 resources. Such coordlnatiofi is an integral pert of the Department's activities in ncean 

 research and in global change rvaearch in general. 



