Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry

Celebrating 20 years of OCB + OCB2027 dates

2026 marks 20 years since the OCB Project Office began in 2006 to support science, community, and connection across a globally distributed network of scientists! To celebrate all the accomplishments of the community across these two decades, OCB is convening a one-day virtual symposium on November 18, 2026. The symposium will highlight scientific discoveries, game-changing […]

Save the Date: OCB Workshop on Marine Viruses

OCB WORKSHOP From single cells to ecosystems: Quantifying the role of marine viruses in carbon transport models February 8-10, Grand Galvez Hotel, Galveston, Texas (hybrid) Viruses are a ubiquitous and integral component of Earth’s ecosystems, including marine microbial communities. Virally mediated mechanisms play a central role in carbon cycling and export processes. Despite their known […]

Register for the 7th DMS(P) Symposium: Sulfur Carbon Nexus in the SOLAS Sphere

A joint workshop with SCOR, SOLAS, and Schmidt Sciences: Climate October 12-15, 2026 in person at Bigelow Laboratory (Boothbay Harbor, Maine) and online. The organosulfur compound dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) ignited an entire subfield of biogeochemistry to investigate the precursor of the “anti-greenhouse gas” dimethylsulfide (DMS). Since then, decades of research have unveiled the importance of DMS(P), […]

New OCSIF Subcommittee

This new OCSIF OCB subcommittee focused on identifying and addressing uncertainties in the seawater carbonate system and increasing measurement inter-comparability, now has a full membership – see the new members and more info here.

Benthic Models & Data Synthesis

New OCB Sediment Biogeochemistry Model Intercomparison Project (SedMIP) Working Group seeking input Do you use and/or build benthic models? With the goal of designing a MIP for benthic models, OCB’s SedMIP WG is conducting an inventory of existing benthic models and would benefit from your feedback on model applications, components, and inputs/outputs to inform our […]

Register today for these upcoming OCB webinars

Sign up for the OCB eNews

Read all about OCB’s activities, find jobs, postdocs, student opps, funding ops, and keep up with news from across the community and partner programs every month. Sign up

OCB turns 20! Please share how OCB has impacted your career trajectory

OCB turns 20! Please share how OCB has impacted your career trajectory Tell us how OCB has impacted you

PAUSE on all bulk travel requests

Until further notice, OCB will not be able to consider bulk travel support requests. We will post an announcement if this changes.

Recent Science Highlights

Phytoplankton respond more consistently to nutrient pulses than marine heat waves

How do phytoplankton respond to short-term changes in temperature and nutrient availability, and how does this response vary under different baseline conditions? A recent study perturbed a summer plankton community by manipulating nutrient concentrations and temperature (±4°C) in short-term controlled microcosms to assess the relative impacts of each factor on phytoplankton physiology and community structure. […]

Detecting the ocean’s eddy carbon pump globally—it’s smaller than we thought.

How much carbon do ocean eddies actually pump into the ocean interior? A decade ago, a landmark study (Omand et al, 2015) showed that turbulent eddies at ocean fronts can grab carbon-rich surface water and plunge it hundreds of meters down in a matter of days—back-of-the-envelope extrapolations suggest this “eddy subduction pump” could export as […]

A small pH bias can make Southern Ocean CO₂ uptake look too weak

The Southern Ocean is one of the most important regions for absorbing anthropogenic CO₂, and it is one of the most challenging places to observe, until Biogeochemical (BGC) Argo floats began to monitor this remote region year-round. Yet, CO₂ uptake estimates based on float data have suggested a much weaker uptake Southern Ocean than estimates […]

What happens when marine snow and oil mix?

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (April-July 2010) in the NE Gulf of Mexico provided researchers with an opportunity to explore what happens when marine snow and oil mix. Marine snow are detrital particles or aggregates consisting of inorganic and organic components, such as bacteria, phytoplankton cells, zooplankton fecal pellets, and mucous feeding webs, and are […]

El Niño-driven changes in the tropical Pacific O2 content and structure

What drives the year-to-year variability of dissolved oxygen (O2) in the tropical Pacific? A recent study explored this question using a global high-resolution model with active ocean biogeochemistry along with a machine learning based estimate of dissolved oxygen from Argo floats. El Niño and La Niña events play a major role in regulating the O2 […]

When plastics slip into the carbon cycle

What if a tiny amount of plastic could make the ocean’s carbon appear thousands of years older than it really is? For decades, oceanographers have relied on routine measurements of particulate organic carbon to understand how carbon moves through the ocean, how long it persists, and how it shapes Earth’s climate. These measurements, based on […]