The GLOBEC Goal

The aim of GLOBEC is to advance our understanding of the structure and functioning of the global ocean ecosystem, its major subsystems, and its response to physical forcing so that a capability can be developed to forecast the responses of the marine ecosystem to global change.

GLOBEC considers global change in the broad sense, encompassing the gradual processes of climate change and its impacts on marine systems, as well as those shorter-term changes resulting from anthropogenic pressures, such as population growth in coastal areas, increased pollution, overfishing, changing fishing practices and changing human use of the seas.

GLOBEC has four primary objectives:

Objective 1
To better understand how multiscale physical environmental processes force large-scale changes in marine ecosystems

Objective 2
To determine the relationships between structure and dynamics in a variety of oceanic systems which typify significant components of the global ocean ecosystem, with emphasis on trophodynamic pathways, their variability and the role of nutrition quality in the food web.

Objective 3
To determine the impacts of global change on stock dynamics using coupled physical, biological and chemical models linked to appropriate observation systems and to develop the capability to predict future impacts.

Objective 4
To determine how changing marine ecosystems will affect the global earth system by identifying and quantifying feedback mechanisms.

GLOBEC consists of 4 cross cutting research foci, 6 regional programmes and National programme activities. For more information on GLOBEC structure and programme organisation please click here.