Managing Ocean Front Ecosystems for Climate Change – OceanFrontCHANGE
Ocean Front Change
Ocean fronts are meeting places for marine life. The objective of this project is to provide marine managers with physical and biological information to meet planning needs for marine conservation and sustainable fisheries. This project works with conservation and fisheries actors in the Mozambique Channel to design research on ocean fronts, their use by marine species and fisheries; and how the variability of these fronts will change in the future.
What are our objectives ?
Objective 1: Understand the dynamics and biogeochemistry of the ocean fronts (WPs 2 and 3). We aim to use modeling to understand the dynamics and biogeochemistry of ocean fronts, in order to answer productivity questions important to fisheries and megafauna.<br /><br />Objective 2: Improve knowledge of the intermediate trophic level and the use of fronts by megafauna. WPs 4 and 5 seek to understand biophysical interactions on ocean fronts, in particular the use of these ecosystems by marine megafauna and mid-trophic level species that support fisheries.<br /><br />Objective 3: Document the use of fronts by fisheries and the local incentives of fishermen.<br /><br />Objective 4: Simulate and plan the impacts of climate change on waterfront ecosystems. Using our historical configurations (coupled ocean circulation and biogeochemistry models) and statistical downscaling methodology, we will simulate future changes in ocean fronts to generate better management of the impacts of climate change.<br /><br />Goal 5: Advance the science of sustainability by providing relevant information for stakeholders. We seek to provide stakeholder-relevant information (WP1) on sustainability science to international and national resource managers (WP9) that integrate information from all project WPs.
engaging fisheries and marine conservation stakeholders to better understand what is needed from scientists,
assessing ocean fronts use by marine life and fisheries from ocean model outputs (ROMS-CROCO), satellite data and historical biological data,
evaluating ocean front variability to climate change thanks to statistical downscaling of global earth-system models to force a regional ROMS configuration
Ocean fronts are meeting places of life in the oceans. Marine organisms from plankton to blue whales congregate at the interface of cooler and
warmer waters, due to the prevalence of enhanced productivity at fronts. The technology for identifying ocean fronts is well-established, including
mapping from remotely sensed SST and altimetry. However, the management of fronts is in its infancy, as is understanding how fronts will vary with
climate change. This means that much of the information available about ocean fronts and their response to climate change is not available to
managers making decisions about how to achieve local, regional, and national conservation and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The goal of
this proposal is to provide marine planners and managers with physical and biological information critical to meeting these planning needs in marine
conservation and sustainable fisheries.
This project works with conservation and fishing stakeholders in the Mozambique Channel to design research about ocean fronts, their use by
marine species and fisheries and how front variability will change in the future. We work with stakeholder communities to create conservation and
sustainable fishing solutions for fronts. We use global remote sensing analysis to find other areas in which the conditions that make these solutions
relevant apply.
The outcomes of this project fill critical gaps in information identified by stakeholders and planners, helping them to meet individual and collective
responsibilities relating to the nature of the ocean and its sustainable use as climate changes. We will provide this information globally for the tropics
and in more detail for our focal region in the Mozambique Channel. This contribution comes at a critical time, as governments commit to Sustainable
Development Goals, communities are struggling to understand how to adapt resource management to climate change and conservation groups look
for ways to protect marine life at fronts that are moving in response to climate change.
Project coordination
Pierrick Penven (Institut de Recherche pour le Dévelopment (IRD), Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Sapatiale (LOPS))
The author of this summary is the project coordinator, who is responsible for the content of this summary. The ANR declines any responsibility as for its contents.
Partnership
IRD-LEGOS IRD-LEGOS
IRD-MIO INSTITUT de RECHERCHE pour le DEVELOPPEMENT - MEDITERRANEAN INSTITUTE of OCEANOGRAHPY
Coastal Oceans Research and Development in the Indian Ocean (CORDIO) East Africa
IRD-LOPS Institut de Recherche pour le Dévelopment (IRD), Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Sapatiale (LOPS)
IRD-MARBEC IRD-MARBEC
Help of the ANR 249,998 euros
Beginning and duration of the scientific project:
July 2020
- 36 Months
