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GEOTRACES
Lead Organizations
- National Science Foundation
Contribution Description
GEOTRACES is an international program designed to coordinate efforts and data regarding marine biogeochemical cycles of trace elements and their isotopes (TEIs). The guiding mission is to identify processes and quantify changes that control the distributions of key trace elements and isotopes in the ocean, and to establish the sensitivity of these distributions to changing environmental conditions. TEIs play important roles in the ocean as nutrients, as tracers of processes now and in the past, and as contaminants. Their biogeochemical cycling has direct implications for such diverse areas as the carbon cycle, climate change, ocean ecosystems, and environmental pollution.