Long-term time-series studies are ideally suited for investigation of the subtle habitat changes, irregularly spaced stochastic events and complex interdependent ecological phenomena that affect biogeochemical cycles in the world ocean. In 1986, during the early planning stages of what would eventually become the U.S. Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), timeseries studies were identified as crucial for assessing the baseline or mean states of key parameters in the oceanic carbon cycle and their variability. They were patterned initially after the VERtical Transport and EXchange (VERTEX) time-series study then underway in the northeast Pacific Ocean, but the VERTEX field program, which included six cruises and lasted for 18 months, proved to be too short in length and the observations too infrequent to resolve much of the natural variability in open-ocean ecosystems. This discovery presented a scientific and logistical challenge for JGOFS planners.

Karl, D.M., J.E. Dore, R. Lukas, A.F. Michaels, N.R. Bates, and A. Knap. 2001. Building the long-term picture: The U.S. JGOFS time-series programs. Oceanography 14(4):6–17, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2001.02.

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