The North Pacific is surrounded by boundary currents
(e.g., Kuroshio, Tsushima, Oyashio, California, Alaska, Bering Slope)
that support a diversity of ecosystems. These ecosystems are highly
variable in space and time due to combinations of climate change,
decadal "regime" shifts, ENSO and other interannual variability,
seasonal and event mesoscale dynamics. This variability has led
to dramatic changes at both low and high trophic levels, including
productivity, range extensions, and species dominance. This theme
will provide opportunities to address questions such as: 1) How
will climate variation and projected climate change influence the
dynamics and variability of boundary currents? 2) How will boundary
current ecosystems respond to these physical property and transport
changes? 3) How does human activity (e.g., fishing, hatcheries)
alter the sensitivity of boundary current ecosystems to natural
environmental forcing? and 4) What are appropriate management strategies
to maintain healthy, sustainable living marine resources in boundary
current systems that experience large environmental variations?
Presentations that describe, compare and/or contrast physics, biology,
fisheries, and geochemistry of boundary currents and the ecosystems
they support are encouraged.
Invited speakers: Edmundo Casillas (Northwest Fisheries
Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, U.S.A.); Kenneth
Drinkwater (ICES/Institute of Marine Research, Norway); Robert Francis
(School of Aquatic & Fishery Sciences, University of Washington,
U.S.A.); Tony Koslow (CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Australia);
Arthur Miller (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of
California, U.S.A.); and Ichiro Yasuda (Ocean Research Institute,
University of Tokyo, Japan)