The Joint Global Ocean Flux Studies (JGOFS) is a multidisciplinary international oceanographic programme conceived under the auspices of the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR). The JGOFS is recognized as one of the core projects of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and is designed to increase our understanding of the ocean carbon cycle with the following two specific objectives.
i) To determine and understand on a global scale the processes controlling the time varying fluxes of carbon and associated biogenic elements in the ocean, and to evaluate the related exchanges with the atmosphere, the sea floor, and continental boundaries.
ii) To develop a capability to predict on a global scale the response of oceanic biogeochemical processes to anthropogenic perturbations, in particular those related to climatic change.
This
was approved by the Committee with financial support of the DOD. The broad
goals of the Arabian Sea programme were:
i) to assess the role of the Arabian Sea in the overall CO2 air-sea exchange balance by determining the magnitude and direction of CO2 air-sea exchange fluxes during different seasons.
ii) to determine the primary and new production rates, their spatial and temporal variations, export flux of carbon from euphotic zone and its relation to primary productivity.
iii) to study the records of deposition of carbon and other elements in the sediments and their relation to water column processes.
iv) to determine the role of marginal sediments influencing the chemistry of the Arabian Sea interior.
In order to meet these objectives, the following cruises were undertaken