International Workshop on Continental Shelf
Fluxes of Carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphorus

Lagos, Nigeria, October 14-8th, 1996

Sponsored by:
The Continental Margins Task Team
(JGOFS/LOICZ)
Co-sponsored by:
IOC

Contact person:
Dr. Julie Hall
Co-chair, CMTT
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
PO Box 11-115, Gate 10, Silverdale Rd., Hamilton, New Zealand
Fax: 64-7-8560151, email: j.hall@niwa.cri.nz

The Continental Margins Task Team, a joint Task Team between the IGBP project JGOFS (Joint Global Ocean Flux Studies) and LOICZ (Land Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone) is preparing for a workshop entitled "International Workshop on Continental Shelf Fluxes of Carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphorus" will be held at the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research, Lagos, Nigeria, October 14-18th, 1996. The workshop will be sponsored by JGOFS and LOICZ and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission has been invited to co-sponsor the meeting.

Workshop aim

Gain a better understanding of fluxes between the Continental Margins and the Open Ocean and the rate of processing of material in the continental margin.

Specific objectives

Using four areas as case studies, participants will attempt to develop a consensus on the C, N and P fluxes based on the available data .The case study sites will be the East China Sea, Chile/Peru coast, North Sea and the Gulf of Guinea. Participants will also consider the utility of LOICZ nutrient budgeting guidelines as a common framework for the overall aim.

Outputs from the work shop

The draft report is to be prepared by the participants at the Workshop in Lagos. This report will include a consensus paper from each of the case study regions. Following the meeting the coordinating committee will meet to draft a technical overview report and the report will be sent to the participants of the workshop for comment. This report will be used as the primary background document for a much broader Continental Margins Workshop at the LOICZ Open Science Meeting which will be held in the Netherlands in 1997.

Workshop structure

The Workshop in Lagos will involve 15 participants. For each of the case study sites, three participants will be asked to prepare draft Carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphorus budgets. The participants will purposely be chosen from different backgrounds and institutions.

In addition to the regional focused participants there will also be three participants invited that will be requested to take a wider overview perspective.

All participants will be asked to read and digest the background material. This will include the LOICZ report on Biogeochemical Modeling Guidelines and several papers that are considered relevant. In addition the participants focused on a region will be required to come to the workshop with a draft budget for their particular region.

On the first day of the workshop there will be a joint plenary session with members of the Nigerian Institute of Oceanography. During this session one regional participant from each region will be asked to give a 10 minute overview of the region. In addition each regional participants will be asked to give a brief 10 minute overview of their prepared budget. Following the plenary session there will be three days of intensive collaborative work to prepare a common budget for each of the regions. The workshop will end with a second joint plenary session to present the conclusions of the workshop.