At its annual meeting in May 2008, the U.S. GEOTRACES Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) reviewed the scientific objectives and proposed ocean sections described in the reports of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian basin workshops convened in 2007 by the International GEOTRACES program. The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans sections were selected for the initial implementation of the U.S. contribution to GEOTRACES followed by the announcement to the U.S. Chemical Oceanography community on 25 June, 2008. That announcement contained an open invitation to participate in planning workshops where the initial components of implementation plans for these sections were developed.
The initial planning took place at the following workshops:
- U.S. GEOTRACES Atlantic Workshop, 22 - 24 September 2008, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, U.S.
- U.S. GEOTRACES Pacific Section Implementation Workshop, 1 - 3 October 2008, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
As a result of these workshops, the U.S. GEOTRACES SSC, in consultation with the NSF Chemical Oceanography Program, determined that the North Atlantic section would be implemented first, tentatively in late 2010, followed by the Pacific sections.
GEOTRACES Sections. In red: Planned Sections. In yellow: Completed Sections. In black: Sections completed as GEOTRACES contribution to the International Polar Year. In green: U.S. GEOTRACES sections (solid: completed; dash: upcoming). Download a larger version of the map (JPG or PDF file formats). Information about the GEOTRACES approved Section Cruises, Process Studies and Compliant Data cruises can be found on the GEOTRACES Interactive World Map.
