Welcome to OCB
OCB Mission
The scientific mission of OCB is to study the evolving role of the ocean in the global carbon cycle, in the face of environmental variability and change through studies of marine biogeochemical cycles and associated ecosystems.
Overarching Scientific Themes
Improve understanding and prediction of:
1) oceanic uptake and release of atmospheric CO2 and other greenhouse gases;
2) environmental sensitivities of biogeochemical cycles, marine ecosystems, and interactions between the two
Currently Identified Priorities
- Ocean acidification
- Terrestrial/coastal carbon fluxes and exchanges
- Climate sensitivities of and change in ecosystem structure and associated impacts on biogeochemical cycles
- Mesopelagic ecological and biogeochemical interactions
- Benthic-pelagic feedbacks on biogeochemical cycles
- Ocean carbon uptake and storage
- Expanding low-oxygen conditions in the coastal and open oceans
OCB Information Resources
- OCB Policies and Procedures: A community guide on OCB's programmatic mission, objectives, and operating procedures
- Coastal Synthesis Activity - join a regional email list, get updates on regional coastal synthesis activities, or visit the coastal synthesis workshop website
- OCB Ocean Acidification Website
- OCB Ocean Fertilization Website
- Subscribe or post to the OCB email list
- Submit a paper to the OCB publications list
- Affiliate your funded project(s) with OCB
Community News
JANUARY 2: First Order Draft of Working Group I contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report "Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis" available for open review period: December 16, 2011 - February 10, 2012
DECEMBER 12: Congratulations to the newly elected AAAS Fellows, among them our OCB-related Ginger Armbrust, Tony Busalacchi, Tony Michaels, Bob Weller, and George Luther!
DECEMBER 5: Global Carbon Project releases updated global carbon budget and carbon trend analyses to include 2010
NOVEMBER 28: Release of “Ocean Under Stress,” which describes potential impacts of warming, acidification, and deoxygenation on the world's oceans, in preparation for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Seventeenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17)
NOVEMBER 18: Release of IPCC Report Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX)
NOVEMBER 15: NOAA Ocean Acidification funding opportunity announced: LOI deadline (LOIs required) is Dec. 15, 2011, Full proposal deadline: January 30, 2012
NOVEMBER 2: IMBER launches its new website
OCTOBER 18: OCB researcher Chris Sabine named new director of NOAA/PMEL
OCTOBER 18: Prepublication copy of NRC report Assessing Requirements for Sustained Ocean Color Research and Operations now available
OCTOBER 7: 2011 U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan released
Acknowledgments
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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OCB HIGHLIGHTS
JANUARY 2012
Happy New Year! Put the 2012 OCB Summer Workshop on your calendars now - July 16-19, 2012 (Woods Hole, MA). This year's meeting will include sessions on:
- Integrating measurements across multiple time and space scales
- Land-ocean transport and linkages with global change
- Multiple stressors in marine ecosystems
- Ocean biogeochemistry from satellite data
DECEMBER 2011
Congratulations to newly elected SSC members Jorge Sarmiento (Princeton), Simone Alin (NOAA/PMEL), Barney Balch (Bigelow), Sonya Dyhrman (WHOI), and Ricardo Letelier (OSU)
NOVEMBER 2011
- Fall 2011 OCB Newsletter now available!
- OCB workshop report Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry (OCB) Scoping Workshop on a Biogeochemical Flux Program Aligned with the Ocean Observatories Initiative now available
OCTOBER 2011
- Coastal Synthesis Announcement: East coast regional team meeting to take place January 19-20, 2012 (VIMS, College of William & Mary). Stay informed about other regional activities by visiting the coastal carbon wiki.
- 2012 OCB Summer Workshop: July 16-19, 2012 in Woods Hole, MA. Please send your ideas for workshop content to the OCB Project Office by December 9, 2011.