Lead institution:
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) – Japan
The Ecosystem Studies of Sub-Arctic and Arctic Seas (ESSAS) Program addresses the need to understand how climate change will affect the marine ecosystems of the Sub-Arctic and Arctic Seas and their sustainability through comparative studies.
The Sub-Arctic and Arctic Seas support stocks of commercial fish that generate a major portion of the fish landings of the nations bordering them. They also support subsistence fishers along their coasts, and vast numbers of marine birds and mammals. Climate-forced changes in these systems will have major economic and societal impact.
ESSAS sponsors scientific sessions and Science Meetings (SM) with much of the work carried out in Working Groups that cross disciplines (Physical, Chemical, Biological Oceanography, Biogeochemistry, Fishery, Archeology, Paleoclimatology, Social Science). These tackle specific objectives through workshops at the SMs and/or generate science initiatives. ESSAS supports the UN Decade of Ocean through these activities.
Start Date: 01/04/2022
End Date: 31/12/2030
Lead Contact: Naomi Harada, Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo (naomi.harada@aori.u-tokyo.ac.jp)