News

World Ocean Day, 8 June, is coming up soon! For event inspiration, messaging resources and more, check out the 2021 Event Planning Toolkit at https://worldoceanday.org/   via POGO Have any news or opportunity in ocean sciences to share? Send it to info_at_nf-pogo-alumni.org

The Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, including Socioeconomic Aspects (the Regular Process) is a global effort to strengthen the science-policy interface. The Second World Ocean Assessment (WOA II), a major output of the second cycle of the Regular Process was launched on 1 March 2021. While […]

In the “10 New Insights in Climate Science” report series, Future Earth, The Earth League, and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) aim to highlight the latest climate-related research across disciplines for the 5th consecutive year to support policy decision-makers. Future Earth has now begun preparing the 10 New Insights in Climate Science 2021, aimed to launch during the COP26 UN […]

Ocean colour radiometry offers considerable potential for the observation of harmful algal blooms (HABs). Several years ago the IOCCG established a working group on this topic (chaired by Stewart Bernard, SANSA) in conjunction with the GEOHAB international science programme (now GlobalHAB ). We are happy to announce that the report on this topic is in the final […]

Learn how climate change is causing our seas to rise and how satellites have been measuring the height of the sea surface systematically since 1992. With global sea level now rising fast, Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich picks up the baton as the latest satellite mission to extend the legacy of sea-surface height measurements. Learn how it makes […]

The latest version of the OC-CCI dataset, version 5.0, has been released. The v5.0 data is a significant change from previous versions, in that it includes OLCI data and has the reference sensor updated from SeaWiFS to MERIS. Additionally, a number of parts of the software processing chain have been updated: • Improvements to POLYMER […]

New handbook on the use of biodiversity scenarios : A tool for planning the future BiodivERsA and the Belmont Forum, in the framework of their Joint Action on Scenarios of biodiversity and ecosystem services (see information on the joint call 2017-2018 here) produced a Handbook on the use of biodiversity scenarios in support of decision-making.   This handbook […]

The 4th edition of the Copernicus Marine Service Ocean State Report (OSR 4) published in 2020 provides information on changes and variations in the ocean over the past decades, with a focus on changes in the marine environment during the year 2018. It is written by 140 scientific experts from more than 30 institutions and draws from […]

GOOS has launched a Roadmap for the Implementation of the Global Ocean Observing System 2030 Strategy. Under the 2030 Strategy, eleven Strategic Objectives provide guidance on priorities for the development of a more user-focused and integrated system. GOOS cannot accomplish all of these objectives itself, and this Roadmap is designed to provide a framework within which nations, partners […]

The GOOS Observations Coordination Group launches a new Ocean Observing System report card and introduces the rebranding of JCOMMOPS as OceanOPS along with its first-ever 5-year Strategic Plan (2021-2025). The 2020 Ocean Observing System Report Card provides an update on the status of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), including the impact of Covid-19 pandemic […]

PACE radiometric product survey Purpose of this survey The PACE mission, a hyper-spectral mission spanning from the UV to the NIR, is preparing for launch in 2023 and in anticipation we would like to develop radiative products that will be most useful for the community. To guide this effort, we are asking potential PACE data […]

OYSTER 2020 Survey on the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on marine Early Career Researchers The EuroMarine early career researcher group OYSTER (Orienting Young Scientists of EuroMarine*) is currently conducting a survey to gain insight into some personal and professional impacts the COVID-19 pandemic has had on marine Early Career Researchers (ECRs).For the purpose of this survey, marine ECRs are defined as: PhD candidates, postdoctoral researchers, research […]

The webinar “Co-designing the science we need for the Ocean Decade –Part 1” was convened by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO in partnership with the International Science Council on the past 24 Sep 2020. You can access the slides and recording  on the Ocean Decade Website. While visiting the Decade website (oceandecade.org), we encourage you to sign-up to the […]

Explore SOOS’ new metadata portal! The SOOS EarthData portal is hosted by the team at NASA who brought us the old GCMD portal. With 7600 dataset records, it has about twice as many datasets as the old one and is a great place to find data, especially from National Antarctic Programs and remote sensing data […]

The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, along with partner organizations, will convene a series of high-level and scientific virtual dialogues to mobilize the global ocean community, foster transformative partnerships and innovative solution-oriented actions under the Ocean Decade. The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development will start in January 2021. It will provide […]

Dear all,   ASSEMBLE Plus has recently launched a repository of methodologies for the cryogenic preservation of marine organisms. The Cryomar Protocol Toolbox (download) represents a collaborative effort from researchers across Europe from several marine biological stations, including the Universidad de Vigo (Spain), Sorbonne Université (France), the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS; UK), The University of the Basque Country (Spain), Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ; Netherlands), Universidade do […]

Dear Colleagues, A group of African Researchers have teamed up to conduct a study on the “Impact of CoVid-19 pandemic on research productivity in Africa.”  We are kindly requesting you spare less than 20 mins of your time to complete the short questionnaire and please do not forget to share the link with other Africans […]

The VIIRS SNPP global daily 4-km synoptic chlorophyll anomaly product generated routinely by the NOAA Ocean Color EDR team, and which has been viewable on the NOAA OCView tool, is now available through the NOAA CoastWatch Data Portal for both viewing (in context with other ocean and coastal parameters) and subsetting and downloading of NetCDF files (see Figure below). […]

ESA recently funded the development of the Ocean Virtual Laboratory (OVL), a virtual platform that allows oceanographers to discover and explore the various co-located EO datasets and related model/in situ datasets over dedicated regions of interest, with a different multifaceted point of view. It is now possible to exploit the synergy between ESA’s Sentinel 1, 2 and […]

The accidental fishing of large animals is a threat to the ocean. Kenyan scientist Nina Wambiji offers fishermen cheap and smart inventions to avoid it.   From:  http://africanwomenscientistsonthemove.com/nina-wambiji/   via IMBER Have any news or opportunity in ocean sciences to share? Send it to info_at_nf-pogo-alumni.org

PLASTIC AND MICROPLASTICS: UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING MARINE LITTER IN THE YELLOW SEA (Link: http://www.yslmep.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/YSLME-Fact-Sheet-Marine-Litter-FINAL-08102020.pdf) The UNDP/GEF Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem (YSLME) Phase II Project launches today the first of its Information Series showcasing recent studies and actions being undertaken to address key challenges in the Yellow Sea region.   This Information Series tackles Plastic and Microplastics, […]

The Skimmer on Marine Ecosystems and Management Newsletter –May-July 2020 The COVID-19 pandemic, Part 2: Perspectives on the future of coastal and marine tourism and its implications for coastal and marine ecosystems. The Skimmer asked coastal and marine tourism experts from around the world about the diverse ways that the COVID-19 pandemic is currently affecting coastal […]

Translations from English and layout of the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) SPM brochures into the other UN languages is now complete. The PDFs of the SROCC SPM brochure in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish are available from the download page of the SROCC website: https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/download/. The […]

 The Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT)  documents the increase in surface ocean CO2 (carbon dioxide), a critical measure as the oceans are taking up one quarter of the global CO2 emissions from human activity. Synthesis and gridded, quality-controlled products in SOCAT version 2020 contain 28.2 million in situ surface ocean fCO2 (fugacity of CO2) measurements for the […]

Oceanscape is an effort of the GEO Blue Planet Initiative to identify the numerous organisations (including projects, programmes, and other structures) working in the “ocean space”, and to clarify the connections between them (as well as identifying opportunities to make connections where none exist).There are now 74 organizations on Oceanscape. Find out how to add your organization here! […]

Over-exploitation of marine living resources is one of the primary environmental concerns in the Yellow Sea, resulting to low value and depleted fish stocks. This phenomenon signals a number of underlying causes and multiple pressures facing the fisheries sector and industries in the Yellow Sea region. (Article: http://www.yslmep.org/?p=4071 ) (Video: http://www.yslmep.org/?aiovg_videos=yslme-fish-stock ) As early as 2009, PR China […]

The launch of FAO’s State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) 2020 on World Oceans Day gathered >1500 participants. In case you missed it, please find below the six main messages of the Report: 1.   Now more than ever FISH AND FISH products are essential in the fight against hunger and poverty. 2.   Sustainable intensification, adequate frameworks and innovative value chains are […]

In celebration of the World Oceans Day, the UNDP/GEF/UNOPS YSLME Phase II Project, in collaboration with various partners, launched three (3) videos showcasing initiatives and innovations in the Yellow Sea region to: (1) Crack down on the Small but Dangerous Microplastics and Address Marine Litter in the Yellow Sea See video here: http://www.yslmep.org/?aiovg_videos=yslme-marine-litter   (2) Promote […]

Revised IUCN guidelines demystify and clarify protected area categories for marine areas The IUCN guidelines that define a protected area are the foundation for the standards by which protected areas truly become protected. Our new publication explains this subject as it applies to marine areas, seemingly misunderstood in the past. Website: https://www.iucn.org/news/protected-areas/201912/revised-iucn-guidelines-demystify-and-clarify-protected-area-categories-marine-areas   via Foro […]

This survey will enable Early Career Ocean Professionals (ECOPs) to contribute to the preparation phase of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, 2021-2030. The Decade is a critical opportunity to galvanise transformative actions for the ocean we need for the future we want. This survey is conducted under the auspices of […]

OpenLitterMap (https://openlittermap.com/en) empowers you to map and share data on plastic pollution anywhere. Snap it, tag it, share it. It’s like Pokémon Go for Tidy Towns! The data is not just mapped, more importantly, the data is accessible as open data. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_data This is a work in progress that is only about 5-10% of where […]

Dear colleague, The Ocean Best Practices System (OBPS) was created to improve access to best practices. We are looking for your thoughts on the use of these best practices in ocean observing and also guiding the evolution of the OBPS. Best practices and are a common approach to further consistency in ocean data and information. […]