ICES joins the debate on climate change

ICES Secretariat has contributed to the publication RTCC2010 (Responding to Climate Change 2010), to be released at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (7-18 December 2009), in an editorial entitled “Investigating marine ecosystems links to climate change”. The editorial presents information about ICES, its work related to climate change, and the role oceans play in global climate-change processes. It explains that the ocean-atmosphere phenomena in the North Atlantic, called the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, has stimulated a great deal of research into the effects of climate on marine ecosystems, which will lead to better management of marine resources as they are affected by marine regime shifts. As a forum for the development and evaluation of climate impact assessments at regional and global levels, ICES produces observation strategies, modelling and analytical tools, evaluation of risk and uncertainty, and presents its findings to a variety of audiences ranging from specialists to the general public. Crucial research results and appropriately controlled data gathering, when used optimally, provide an appropriate background for this forum.

The ICES groups most relevant to climate change are:

• ICES/GLOBEC (Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics) Working Group on Cod and Climate Change
• ICES Working Group on Zooplankton Ecology
• ICES Working Group on Oceanic Hydrography
• ICES/IOC (Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO) Steering Group on the Global Oceanic Observing System
• ICES Working Group on Operational Oceanographic Products
• ICES/GLOBEC Working Group on Life Cycle and Ecology of Small Pelagic Fish

ICES will have 1–2 observers at the COP15.