SIBER SPIS sept 2011.pdf - IMBER

SIBER
Science Plan and Implementation Strategy
Hi s t o r i c a l ba c k g r o u n d
In comparison to the Atlantic and the North Pacific the IO has received relatively little research
attention. It was essentially neglected in the early days of oceanography; the Challenger
expedition (1872-1876) made a single leg from Cape Town to Melbourne (see review by
Benson and Rehbock, 2002). The first major expedition to the IO (principally the AS) – the
John Murray Expedition - was undertaken on an Egyptian vessel, the Mabahiss, in 1933-1934
(Sewell, 1934), during which the intense mesopelagic oxygen deficiency was first recorded.
During preparation and execution of the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958),
oceanographic exploration of the southern IO was carried out by Australian, French, Japanese,
New Zealand and Soviet researchers. Nevertheless, the IO was one of the least known seas
when the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) planned the International Indian
Ocean Expedition (IIOE, 1960–1965). This basinwide survey resulted in a comprehensive
hydrographic atlas (Wyrtki, 1971) and a number of regional studies (e.g. Swallow and Bruce,
1966). Subsequent research built on the work of that expedition (for further summary of early
AS efforts, see Wiggert et al., 2005). The IIOE also led to capacity building in the region,
particularly in India where the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) was established in
1966. Over subsequent years, research at NIO has greatly improved our understanding of
oceanographic processes in the AS and BoB.
The next intensive study involving researchers from outside the region was the Indian Ocean
Experiment (INDEX, 1976-1979), which investigated the physical response of the Somali
Current to the SWM (Swallow et al., 1983) and provided a first look at the associated biological
and chemical distributions (Smith and Codispoti, 1980). The two institutes in Sevastopol,
Ukraine (Marine Hydrophysical Institute and Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas)
undertook ten expeditions mostly in the 1980s (Goldman and Livingston, 1994). However, in
comparison to the Atlantic and the North Pacific, there have been very few studies and major
expeditions in the IO.
The next cycle of investigations began with the Netherlands Indian Ocean Program (NIOP,
1992-1993; see review by Smith, 2005), part of the international Joint Global Ocean Flux Study
(JGOFS), which focused on the western AS. Due to the uniqueness of the region, JGOFS
selected the AS as one of four areas for detailed process studies during the 1990s. These
investigations focused on the biogeochemical dynamics of the central and western AS and
were largely limited the upper 500 to 1000m of the water column. The World Ocean Circulation
Experiment (WOCE), implemented at about the same time, had a much wider geographical
coverage in the IO. Although there have been expeditions mounted by individual countries
(India, France, Germany, Japan, UK, and the USA), focused primarily on studies of physical
processes, there have been no coordinated international expeditions since JGOFS, focusing
on the biogeochemistry and/or ecology of either the pelagic realm or the benthos in the IO.
One notable nationally coordinated effort, which may be viewed as a follow-up to the JGOFS
AS efforts, is the Bay of Bengal Process Studies (BOBPS) program organized by the Indian
oceanographic community (Madhupratap et al., 2003). Nevertheless, more than a decade has
passed since the last major international research program in the IO ended. Efforts to mount
a new program need to be initiated to consider the important questions that emerged from
JGOFS that have not yet been addressed, as well as some exciting new questions that have
arisen in recent years (see below).
7