To better manage the global impacts of human activities on the world’s oceans, it is necessary to have accurate observations of changes in carbon and dissolved nutrients in both upper and deep ocean waters.
It is important to now establish mechanisms for improving the quality of reported oceanic nutrient data, which will then allow us to be able to more accurately detect changes in nutrient levels due to human impact and shifting physical processes, which might alter the supply of nutrients to the upper ocean in the future. Improved comparability of reported nutrient concentrations in the water column will also help us to improve estimates of the anthropogenic portion of the observed increase of total carbon in the water column.
The primary goal for the SCOR Working Group #147 is for nutrient data collected at any one place by an individual laboratory and data collected over long time periods by one or more laboratories to be consistent with certified comparability. For future generations it is unacceptable to produce historical data sets without the absolute consistency necessary to assess spatial and temporal trends.