377 



TOWARD NEW PARTNERSHIPS IN OCEAN SCIENCES 43 



shelf, the cycling and transport of organic carbon and nutrients 

 across the shelf, the influence of western boundary currents (e.g., 

 the Gulf Stream) on shelf physics and biological productivity, par- 

 ticle transport processes, and particle burial in basins along the 

 continental margin. 



DOE is one of the few agencies to support long-term research 

 in coastal oceanography. Long time series are useful to determine 

 whether the coastal ocean is changing because of anthropogenic 

 influences and to separate directional changes from natural varia- 

 tions. Earlier programs supported the development of in situ in- 

 struments to measure optical properties, particle concentration 

 and flux, chlorophyll, and nutrients, allowing important scientific 

 advances. DOE's support of the successful Food Chain Research 

 Group at Scripps Institution of Oceanography is an example of the 

 value of its early academic partnerships. 



Somewhat more than a decade ago, Congress assigned DOE 

 the responsibility to collect information and maintain a major 

 data base on carbon dioxide. Interest in carbon dioxide was grow- 

 ing because of the increasing body of theory suggesting a relation- 

 ship between the greenhouse effect and energy production and 

 supply. As part of the interagency focus on global change re- 

 search, several programs initiated within DOE in the past few 

 years capitalize on its experience and interests. Two major pro- 

 grams have emerged: the Atmospheric Radiation Measurements 

 (ARM) program and the Computer Hardware, Advanced Modeling 

 and Model Physics (CHAMMP) program. The ARM program is 

 designed to make complete and detailed measurements at strate- 

 gically chosen sites to enhance our understanding of clouds and 

 solar radiation. The primary focus of CHAMMP is climate mod- 

 eling. One of its major goals is to advance the speed of climate 

 models by using highly parallel new computer hardware systems, 

 other software techniques, and new algorithms. Many of the ma- 

 jor ocean-atmosphere models from around the world are now be- 

 ing compared. In addition, DOE is requesting an increase in the 

 fiscal year 1993 budget for its open ocean research thrust to fulfill 

 its mission to understand the carbon dioxide balance and the ocean's 

 role in this balance. 



DOE funds both extramural research and research carried out 

 at its national laboratories. DOE's national laboratory system 

 employs approximately 50,000 people and has a budget of $6 bil- 

 lion to $8 billion. Marine research is a small part of the overall 

 DOE research effort; Brookhaven National Laboratory is the pri- 

 mary site for marine research. As the oceanographic community 



