Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry
Studying marine ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles in the face of environmental change
  • Home
  • About OCB
    • About Us
    • Scientific Breadth
      • Biological Pump
      • Changing Marine Ecosystems
      • Changing Ocean Chemistry
      • Estuarine and Coastal Carbon Fluxes
      • Ocean Carbon Uptake and Storage
      • Ocean Observatories
    • Code of Conduct
    • Get Involved
    • Project Office
    • Scientific Steering Committee
    • OCB committees
      • Ocean Time-series
      • US Biogeochemical-Argo
      • Ocean-Atmosphere Interaction
  • Activities
    • Summer Workshop
    • OCB Webinars
    • Guidelines for OCB Workshops & Activities
    • Topical Workshops
      • CMIP6 Models Workshop
      • Coastal BGS Obs with Fisheries
      • C-saw extreme events workshop
      • Ecological Forecasting – North American Coastlines
      • Expansion of BGC-Argo and Profiling Floats
      • Fish, fisheries and carbon
      • Future BioGeoSCAPES program
      • GO-BCG Scoping Workshop
      • Lateral Carbon Flux in Tidal Wetlands
      • Marine CDR Workshop
      • Ocean Nucleic Acids ‘Omics
      • Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions
      • Oceanic Methane & Nitrous Oxide
    • Small Group Activities
      • Aquatic Continuum OCB-NACP Focus Group
      • Arctic-COLORS Data Synthesis
      • BECS Benthic Ecosystem and Carbon Synthesis WG
      • Carbon Isotopes in the Ocean Workshop
      • CMIP6 WG
      • Filling the gaps air–sea carbon fluxes WG
      • Fish Carbon WG
        • Fish Carbon WG Workshop
        • Fish carbon workshop summary
      • Marine carbon dioxide removal
      • Metaproteomic Intercomparison
      • Mixotrophs & Mixotrophy WG
      • N-Fixation WG
      • Ocean Carbonate System Intercomparison Forum
      • Ocean Carbon Uptake WG
      • OOI BGC sensor WG
      • Operational Phytoplankton Observations WG
      • Phytoplankton Taxonomy WG
    • Other Workshops
    • Science Planning
      • Coastal CARbon Synthesis (CCARS)
      • North Atlantic-Arctic
    • Ocean Acidification PI Meetings
    • Training Activities
      • PACE Training Activity
  • Science Support
    • Data management and archival
    • Early Career
    • Funding Sources
    • Jobs & Postdocs
    • Meeting List
    • OCB Topical Websites
      • Ocean Fertilization
      • Trace gases
      • US IIOE-2
    • Outreach & Education
    • Promoting your science
    • Student Opportunities
    • OCB Activity Proposal Solicitations
      • Guidelines for OCB Workshops & Activities
    • Travel Support
  • Publications
    • Ocean Carbon Exchange
    • OCB Workshop Reports
    • Science Planning and Policy
    • Newsletter Archive
  • OCB Science Highlights
  • News

About

The Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry (OCB) program was established in 2006 as one of the major activities of the U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Program, an interagency body that coordinates and facilitates activities relevant to carbon cycle science, climate, and global change issues. OCB’s overarching goal is to explore the ocean’s role in the global carbon cycle and the response of marine ecosystems to environmental changes of the past (paleo), present, and future (prediction).

Compendium cover 600
brochure

OCB Program Brochure (PDF)

Compendium Booklet (PDF)

Current Research Priorities

  • Climate- and human-driven changes in ocean chemistry (e.g., acidification, deoxygenation, nutrient loading, etc.) and associated impacts on marine ecosystems
  • Ocean carbon uptake and storage, including processes from the air-sea interface to the deep ocean
  • Marine organism-mediated carbon cycling and export via the biological pump
  • Benthic carbon cycle feedbacks, from shallow to deep-sea marine habitats
  • Carbon cycling and associated biogeochemical fluxes and exchanges along the aquatic continuum, from rivers to the coastal ocean
  • Marine organism response to environmental change, including molecular, physiological, ecological, and evolutionary processes

Who are we?

OCB is a network of scientists who work across disciplines, such as ocean chemistry, biology and physics, to understand the ocean's role in the global carbon cycle and the response of marine ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles to environmental change. OCB is a bottom-up organization that responds to the continually evolving research priorities and needs of its network.


What do we do?

  • OCB brings together scientific disciplines and cultivates partnerships with complementary US and international programs to address high-priority research questions about marine ecosystems and biogeochemistry. OCB plays multiple important support roles for its network:
  • Organizes and co-sponsors workshops, short courses, working groups and synthesis activities on emerging research issues
  • Serves as a central information hub (websites, email list, newsletter, social media) to broadcast scientific news, opportunities, and research highlights
  • Engages with relevant national and international science planning initiatives
  • Develops education and outreach activities and products with the goal of promoting ocean carbon science to broader audiences
  • Trains the next generation of ocean scientists and engages early career scientists in OCB activities (travel support, networking, mentoring)

What is our impact?

OCB cultivates a continually growing scientific network that fosters interdisciplinary collaborations, informs new projects and funding opportunities, and advances our mechanistic understanding of marine ecosystem-carbon cycle dynamics and their responses to environmental change. OCB activities provide an effective interdisciplinary model and forum for scientific inquiry and discussion.

View the OCB Timeline created by SustainaMetrix and OCB Project Office staff. This continually updated visualization features scientific and programmatic antecedents leading up to the development of the OCB Program in 2006, as well as key activities, partnerships, and outcomes of the OCB Program since its inception.


Articles About the OCB Program

Benway, H. M., Doney, S. C. (2014). Scientific outcomes and future challenges of the Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Program. Oceanography 27(1):106-107 .

Benway, H. M., Doney, S. C. (2013). Addressing biogeochemical knowledge gaps. International Innovation (North America, June 2013), 12-14.

Doney, S. C. and H. M. Benway (2007). Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry: An eye toward integrated research. Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin 16(3): 69.

Copyright © 2023 - OCB Project Office, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 266 Woods Hole Rd, MS #25, Woods Hole, MA 02543 USA Phone: 508-289-2838  •  Fax: 508-457-2193  •  Email: ocb_news@us-ocb.org

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Funding for the Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry Project Office is provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The OCB Project Office is housed at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.