The 5th International Ocean Colour Science meeting (IOCS-2023) for ocean and in-land water radiometry will take place from 14-17 November 2023 in St. Petersburg, FL, USA under the theme: Impact and Value of Ocean Colour Observations in a Changing World: Water in all its Colours, with associated training courses on 13 November 2023. The meeting will be convened by the IOCCG in partnership with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the University of South Florida (USF). The programme for the meeting will include invited keynote lectures, science talks from space agencies, nine breakout workshops, scientific poster sessions and community Town Halls.
The IOCS-2023 Scientific Planning Committee has suggested 3 main themes (listed below) for the breakout sessions, with approximately 3 topics per theme, to engage the ocean and in-land water radiometry community and to discuss new advances in the field. The IOCCG now invites expression on interest for associated training courses and proposals for Chairs and Co-Chairs for the breakout workshops within each theme to develop the scope of topics that will include scientific talks, group discussions and formulation of key messages. (Co-)Chairs should consider the desired output of each session which could be a short group report summarising the session recommendations or community
needs, or even a peer-reviewed manuscript.
Proposed Breakout Workshops themes for IOCS-2023
- New and emerging technologies: this includes new technologies related to observational platforms, sensors, algorithms, capabilities, and in-situ measurements.
- Cool new ways of examining ecosystem function and change from ocean colour, including carbon from space.
- Societal value and Impacts of ocean colour, including economic valuations, linkages with other essential climate variables, value to industries, and impacts on sectors including fisheries, aquaculture, and coastal and marine pollution.
Potential session chairs are invited to submit a brief proposal with a specific topic within one of the above themes, highlighting the scope and goals of the breakout workshop, and how you plan to structure the session. Each proposal requires a short abstract plus a list of up to three key questions to be addressed. The anticipated outcome and relevance to the space agencies, ocean colour community or the IOCCG should also be defined. Each breakout session should include up to three brief key talks, followed by group discussions centred on the key questions. It is important that the breakout workshops are not completely filled with oral presentations, to allow for group discussions and synthesis of feedback that arise from these discussions. Please include a draft schedule/format for session organisation with your submission.
The session Chair will serve as the primary contact and up to two Co-Chairs can also be proposed. In the event that more than one proposal is received for the same topic, the Scientific Planning Committee will review the proposals and may recommend either consolidation, or selection of one particular proposal. Note: Chairs and Co-Chairs should not have their names on more than one proposal.
The deadline for proposal submission is 1 March 2023 via this online form on the IOCS-2023 website. All proposals for breakout sessions will be reviewed by the IOCS-2023 Scientific Planning Committee, and applicants will be notified by the end of April 2023 if their session has been accepted.
Expressions of interest for associated training courses should be directed to the IOCCG Scientific Officer, Raisha Lovindeer (raisha@ioccg.org), preferably before 1 March 2023.
Breakout Workshop Chair Responsibilities
Once notified of acceptance of their proposal, breakout workshop Chairs are requested to prepare the full session in advance and confirm all speakers. Many sessions will be concurrent, so please plan to use the community time effectively. Chairs should identify a Co-Chair(s) as well as a rapporteur for the proposed session and are responsible for contacting potential speakers for their session and making sure the speakers understand the goals and the logistics of the session ahead of the meeting. In addition, Chairs should compile a list of key questions/scientific focus areas, along with desired outcomes, to steer the dialogue in the intended direction.
Chairs should ensure that the discussions during the breakout workshops lead to a consensus document outlined with the participants. Each session Chair is expected to give a brief presentation during the IOCS meeting plenary summarising the outcomes of the breakout workshop. Chairs are also expected to provide a short write up (1-2 pages) synthesizing the discussions and highlighting the key messages to be carried forward to the space agencies, the ocean colour community, or the IOCCG.
These breakout reports will be posted on the meeting website within a week or so of the meeting and will also be incorporated into the full report of the meeting. As previously mentioned, the short summary output of each session could be rolled into a peer review paper or report following the meeting.