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Conference participation is an important part of academic practice and contributes to building scientific careers. Investigating demographic differences in conference participation may reveal factors contributing to the continued under-representation of women in marine and ocean science. To explore the gender and career stage dimensions of participation in an international marine science conference, preferences of presentation type (oral/poster) as well as acceptance and rejection decisions were investigated using 5-years of data (2015–2019) from an International Marine Science Conference. It was found that early career scientists were more likely to be women, while established scientists were more likely to be men. Although overall, gender did not show a significant effect on the decisions to "downgrade" requests for oral presentations to poster presentations, early career scientists were significantly more likely to be downgraded than established scientists. Given that more women were often early career scientists, more women than men had their presentations downgraded. Other indicators and evidence from conference prize-giving and recognition awards point to a gender gap remaining at senior levels, highlighting the need for further actions as well as monitoring and researching conference participation from a gender perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article complements the coverage of the status of women in ocean science as contained in the recently published Global Ocean Science Report 2020 – Charting capacity for ocean sustainability. Using the seven Science, Technology and Innovation Gender Objectives (STI GOs) of UNESCO's SAGA (STEM and Gender Advancement) project, it reviews available information on women's education and careers in ocean science for some of the countries with the highest numbers of ocean scientists in order to highlight STI GOs of concern. It also provides some information on resources for each STI GO to help institutions to achieve gender equality amongst their ocean science research staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lack of highly-trained ocean science professionals constrains sustainable development and management of the oceans. In Kenya, the government is committed to improving access to education for all, regardless of gender, ethnicity, and social status. Increasing female student enrolment has been one of the top priorities, particularly in science-related courses, which have long been male-biased. Feminist political ecology is applied as an analytical framework to understand how gender and ethnicity influence student access to, participation in, and experience in ocean science-related programmes. Data was collected through a questionnaire survey with students undertaking ocean science courses in seven public universities in Kenya. The findings revealed an underrepresentation of women and minority ethnic groups. Fewer female respondents than males received financial support from their families, and more female respondents than males reported that they had experienced discrimination related to their ethnicity and gender. In addition, a higher percentage of female respondents reported having fewer opportunities in higher education and ocean science careers than males. These findings reveal the persistent inequalities among students and suggest that Kenyan public universities need to pay more attention to how intersectional identities, such as gender and ethnicity, influence and shape the distribution of resources and opportunities if equitable diversity and inclusion are to be achieved. Also, they need to strengthen their gender policies and actions to tackle these social inequalities to promote gender equality in ocean science education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As technologies of ocean exploitation emerged during the late 1960s, science policy and diplomacy were formed in response to anticipated capabilities that did not match the realities of extracting deep‐sea minerals and of resource exploitation in the deep ocean at the time. Promoters of ocean exploitation in the late 1960s envisaged wonders such as rare mineral extraction and the stationing of divers in underwater habitats from which they would operate seabed machinery not connected to the turbulent surface waters. Their promises coincided with others' fears that nuclear weaponry would be placed on the seabed. Those who lacked the technological capability to extract minerals from the seabed also had concerns that other nations would exploit their resources. Scientific imaginaries caused uncertainty in the international community—especially in the "Global South." The UN called the "Law of the Sea" conferences to mediate emerging geopolitical tensions caused by these imaginaries of exploitation of ocean resources. These conferences became a site where lawmakers projected futures rather than merely responding to past or present dilemmas. Diplomats' negotiations, with their basis in anticipation of the future uses of science and technology, reveal the role of scientific imaginaries within complex negotiations. Here, we see the impact of the distinction (or blurring) of the real and the imagined on the balance of relations between Global North and South increasing global imbalances of resources and power. This article's analysis of such scientific diplomacy provides a valuable example of the power of scientific imaginaries to have a global impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Italian Tsunami Warning Centre (Centro Allerta Tsunami, CAT) of Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) operates to issue tsunami alert messages both to the Italian Civil Protection system and to several countries of the Mediterranean. CAT-INGV started its activities as a candidate tsunami service provider in the framework of the ICG/NEAMTWS of IOC-UNESCO in 2013, to become operational in 2016. At national level, it operates since 2017 following the "SiAM" Prime Minister Directive, under the coordination of the Italian Civil Protection Department and together with ISPRA. In this paper we discuss the responsibilities of the CAT-INGV operators in the light of the Italian legal system, describing which are the critical aspects of the surveillance and issuance of the alerting messages, and trying to delineate the tools useful to limit legal problems for the operators in case of damaging events or false alarms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we studied the characteristics of locally and remotely generated wind waves in the inner‐shelf region of northwestern Bay of Bengal (BoB) based on the measured wave data. Two well‐differentiated wave systems, one young sea from the east‐southeast and another more developed swell from the south lead to bimodality in the wave spectrum. Wind‐sea predominance is not observed in the monthly average wave spectrum and in all the months swells dominated indicating a swell‐driven wave regime. During the monsoon (JJAS), the wave climate is dominated by long‐period swell from the south‐southeast and the short fetch during the northeast monsoon (ONDJ) leads to weaker easterly swells, while the effects of the sea/land breeze influence on the wave generation are more relevant during this season. During November–April, diurnal variation of 0.15 m in significant wave height (SWH) is observed. The study based on seasonally averaged ERA‐Interim reanalysis data reveals a weak connection between the waves in the northwestern BoB and the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) events. The waves are influenced by ENSO events during June–September and by IOD events during October–January, which consequently caused inter‐annual variations in monthly average SWH. The present study, however, did not show a significant inter‐annual variability in annual mean SWH during 1979–2015. (a) Swell‐driven wave regime in northwestern Bay of Bengal. (b) Significant inter‐annual variability in annual mean SWH not observed. (c) ENSO and IOD events have a weak connection on the waves, (d) High‐frequency (>0.25 Hz) tail of the wave spectrum is between −3.5 and −2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encouraging early development of career maturity has a wide variety of benefits for both students and society (Berger et al., 2007; Council of Canadian Academies, 2015; Hedlund, 1993; Hektner 1995; Welde et al., 2016). This large study of students in grades 6-9 in Nova Scotia showed that such programs are currently needed, especially regarding ocean science and marine career opportunities in all employment sectors. Participants demonstrated a need for general career education, and a specific lack of knowledge about careers in the marine and ocean industry. Students were more aware of careers in the skilled trades, but required further information to make informed choices about this employment sector. Major influences on students’ career intentions and perceptions included their friends, online information sources, and their parents and family members. Many students indicated their desire to leave Nova Scotia after high school. However, this was not due to the public perception that there is a lack of good jobs available locally, but rather because of their desire to explore other provinces and countries. We conclude by discussing various reasons why improving career education in junior high schools in Nova Scotia would be time well spent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Aqua’s launch in 2002, the radiometric system gains of the reflective solar bands have been degrading, indicating changes in the system’s optical throughput. To estimate the optical throughput degradation, the electronic gain changes were estimated and removed from the measured system gain. The derived optical throughput degradation shows a rate that is much faster in the shorter wavelengths than the longer wavelengths. The wavelength-dependent optical throughput degradation modulated the relative spectral response (RSR) of the bands. In addition, the optical degradation is also scan angle-dependent due to large changes in response versus the scan angle over time. We estimated the modulated RSR as a function of time and scan angles and its impacts on sensor radiometric calibration for the ocean science. Our results show that the calibration bias could be up to 1.8% for band 8 (412 nm) due to its larger out-of-band response. For the other ocean bands, the calibration biases are much smaller with magnitudes at least one order smaller. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The short-term wave characteristics are required for design and operation of industrial facilities within the coastal areas. Water surface displacement measured using waverider buoy moored at 13 m water depth in the eastern Arabian Sea off the west coast of India have been analyzed to study the short-term statistics of waves covering full one year period. The study indicates that the values of the observed maximum wave height as a function of duration are not consistent with the theoretical expected value. There is significant variation (1.29–2.19) in the ratio between highest 1% wave and significant wave height compared to the theoretical value of 1.67. The data recorded at 13 m water depth indicates that the significant wave height is ∼8% lower than that predicted by the conventional Rayleigh distribution. The theoretical bivariate log-normal distribution represents the joint distributions of wave heights and periods for the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article summarizes the research done at the CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography in 2014 in ocean science, resources and technology. Significant research has been conducted on air-sea interactions and coastal circulation, biogeochemistry, biology, marine geophysics, palaeoceanography, marine fishery, gas hydrates and wave energy. Technological advances covered topics like oceanographic tools. Major strides have been made in marine resources research and evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the effect of online technical lessons of how ocean sensors function on student interest in ocean science technology, as well as knowledge gain outcomes. Additionally, the study contributes novel findings to sensor-based learning literature by measuring changes to self-efficacy and confidence gains stemming from sensor-based learning, as well as changes in interest in ocean careers. The area of educational focus was also novel—focusing on how the sensors themselves function, not just what they do. Precipitated by COVID-19 pandemic constraints, the team used a remote learning approach to provide lessons on sensors at a distance, providing an additional opportunity to contrast this approach with previously studied hands-on learning modes. A sample of students from four high school marine science classes completed two assessments both before and after a series of lessons on ocean sensors. This included a self-reported survey (N = 48), and an open-ended knowledge assessment (N = 40). Results showed modest gains in knowledge assessments, and students experienced statistically significant gains in confidence in their ability to explain what sensors are, confidence in their ability to use sensors and understand resulting data, and confidence in accuracy of sensor data (p < 0.05). No changes were observed for several measures of interest in ocean technology, nor were there changes in an already high belief that understanding these sensors is important to marine science careers. Notably, these findings measure a positive shift in several measures of self-efficacy and confidence, which is a new finding for sensor-based learning. The findings also contrast with prior related work that included hands-on activities with sensors, which reported an increase in interest after working with sensors, whereas this intervention did not. This suggests a hands-on component is key to increasing interest in ocean technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the activities presented in this article, students mimic real scientists while constructing predictions and scientific explanations about surface currents. The activities are inspired by and couched within true scientific inquiries regarding the ocean and the North American Great Lakes. Students engage in a classroom inquiry and use map-reading skills in a relevant and interesting context. A fictional narrative geared toward upper-elementary students increases student engagement and can serve to integrate literacy. Surface currents also connect key elementary ideas from physical science, environmental science, Earth science, technology, and the nature of science. Students have fun while mastering ocean literacy fundamental concept 1c: "Throughout the ocean there is one interconnected circulation system powered by wind" (National Geographic et al. 2006). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe a new ocean observation system that integrates mass spectroscopy, hydrographic instrumentation, and satellite imagery (SeaWIFS). We used a quadrupole ICP mass spectrometer at sea to acquire continuous trace element data during separate surveys of the Baja California coastal margin, and the San Diego Bay and coastal environment. There is evidence for extreme Ba depletion in surface waters off the Baja coast, which is the result of biological productivity and marine barite precipitation. The synoptic data are used to elucidate the biochemical mechanism of barium removal; to constrain the spatial and temporal boundaries over which the phenomenon occurs; and to quantify surface flux to sediments. Further systems application led to mapping of the distribution of a suite of biologically active trace metals (Mn, Ni, Zn, Cu, and Cd) in San Diego Bay, and the Bay signature was tracked in tidal plumes into the coastal ocean. The continuous data provided chemical gradients within the Bay, with which we estimate the contaminant metal flux that is discharged from the Bay into the coastal ocean during tidal pumping. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper reviews the scientific motivation and challenges, development, and use of underwater robotic vehicles designed for use in ice-covered waters, with special attention paid to the navigation systems employed for under-ice deployments. Scientific needs for routine access under fixed and moving ice by underwater robotic vehicles are reviewed in the contexts of geology and geophysics, biology, sea ice and climate, ice shelves, and seafloor mapping. The challenges of under-ice vehicle design and navigation are summarized. The paper reviews all known under-ice robotic vehicles and their associated navigation systems, categorizing them by vehicle type (tethered, untethered, hybrid, and glider) and by the type of ice they were designed for (fixed glacial or sea ice and moving sea ice). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]