Importance of Time-Series Studies: The Latin-American Antares Network

LUTZ, V.

Oceans and Society: Blue Planet

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Año: 2014; p. 68 - 72

Continuous studies of oceanographic properties allow scientiststo understand the response of ecosystems to natural cycles and to anthropogeniceffects. Ocean-integrated observations from long-term time series in differentsites are needed to obtain a global view of changes affecting the world?s ecosystems.The Antares network was created in 2003 with the aim of joining coastal timeseries of bio-optical and oceanographic studies in countries aroundLatin-America. In 2006 this idea was expanded to other regions of the world,creating the ?Chlorophyll Globally Integrated Network (ChloroGIN)? (see Chapter??).  Antares develops three main tasks:1) in situ ship observations at localtime-series stations; 2) remote sensing observations to expand the spatial andtemporal coverage of the in situinformation; and 3) capacity building to train young scientists fromLatin-America in bio-optics and biological oceanography, as well as tofacilitate the exchange of expertise among researchers in the network. Antares was built on on-going projects in each of theparticipating countries, each with their own particular objectives, needs, andavailability of resources. Maintaining long-running oceanographic time seriesin developing countries represents a tremendous challenge since the budgets ofthe institutes and funding agencies is lower, and the cost of obtaininginstruments and supplies is much higher, than in developed countries. Theopportunities to obtain technical assistance and scholarships for studentstraining are also significantly lower. Despite the challenges, the network hasachieved some important milestones.