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The EU funded project EuroSea brought together key actors of the European ocean observing and forecasting communities with key users of the ocean observing products and services in order to better integrate existing ocean observation systems and tools, and to improve the delivery of ocean information to users. EuroSea was constructed around the ocean observing value chain that connects observations to users of ocean information, and, just as intended, the value chain concept was a useful prism to improve the system. In this article, we summarize some of the main take-home messages from EuroSea on the needs for developing the European Ocean Observing System and its links with modeling and forecasting systems. During the project, the challenges and gaps in the design and coordination of the European ocean observing and forecasting system were identified and mapped. Many gaps and challenges related to the observations of physical, chemical and biological Essential Ocean Variables were identified. Some of these gaps are related to technological developments, while others are caused by insufficient and short-term funding leading to a not sustainable system, management, and cooperation between different entities, as well as limitations in foresight activities, policies and decisions. This article represents a compilation of the broader needs for advancing the observing and forecasting system, and is meant as a guide for the community, and to funders and investors to advance ocean observing and the delivery of ocean information in Europe. To enhance the sustainability of ocean observations, which is paramount for a reliable provision of quality oceanographic data and services, several recommendations were compiled for ocean observing networks, frameworks, initiatives, as well as the ocean observing funders within the European nations, and the European Commission.

Ocean sciences in the U.S. remains a field with one of the lowest rates of diversity, having disproportionately low representation from marginalized groups, including Black, Asian, LatinX, Indigenous, and other people of color; LGBTQIA+ individuals; disabled persons; women; those with neurological differences; and those from low-income groups. With equity and inclusion in mind, recent efforts have been made to increase the number of ocean science professionals from marginalized groups through multiple entry points, including internships. However, there still exists a large gap between the diversity found in the general population and the diversity within ocean sciences. Perhaps one reason why this field continues to have lower diversity owes to the unique component of many oceanographic careers, which continues to present an especially high barrier for marginalized groups: participating in sea-going research expeditions. Herein, we have synthesized possible ways to prioritize the physical and emotional safety of marginalized ocean science professionals participating in a research expedition, including guidance on preparation, implementation, and providing support post-cruise. These suggestions are intended to be useful for the broader oceanographic research community to consider the safety and well-being of individuals from marginalized groups at sea, since the field of ocean sciences - like all fields - would greatly benefit from increased representation and diversity.

The UN Decade of Ocean Science (UNDOS) aims to: “Generate knowledge, support innovation, and develop solutions for equitable and sustainable development of the ocean economy under changing environmental, social and climate conditions.” Changing conditions affect certain groups more than others, depending on exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. Gendered differentiation has been studied in small scale coastal fisheries. However, this approach is often limited to male-female gender dichotomies. In contrast, the present analysis takes a more expansive approach centered around the concept of intersectionality, to demonstrate more nuanced differences in terms of individuals’ access to resources for adaptation. We build on multiple Earth System Governance contextual conditions and research lenses to demonstrate that an intersectional approach allows greater understanding of gendered adaptation options impacted by various other factors. This must include investigations beyond the traditional gender binary, which we have sought to achieve in this study by using broader local and individualistic context to observe different communities. We compare gender intersectionality in case studies from India and Tanzania. The evidence demonstrates that intersectional factors vary, impacting adaptiveness to changing Anthropocene conditions, depending upon cross-cutting context-specific systems of hierarchy and discrimination. However, despite variation, we demonstrate there are common factors to be investigated across all locations when identifying possible intersectional impacts of ocean policy interventions, particularly wealth, marriage and family roles, and social networks.

The article considers the prospects of Ukraine’s cooperation with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO in the scope of the forthcoming United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. According to the resolution adopted on the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly, the Decade is to begin on January 1, 2021 and take place within the existing structures and available resources. The purpose of the Decade is to implement the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals, namely “Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development”. The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC), maintained by Member States, facilitates international cooperation and the coordination of programs to deepen knowledge about the nature and resources of the oceans and coastal areas. The IOC is currently finalizing draft implementation plan for the Decade (2021—2030) in consultation with Member States, specialized agencies, funds, programs and bodies of the United Nations, as well as other intergovernmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations and relevant stakeholders with the aim to identify specific objectives, crosscutting issues and key Decade`s themes. Ukraine’s membership in the IOC UNESCO is strategically focused on expanding international cooperation of domestic scientific and educational institutions by ensuring their participation in the program activities of the organization. There should be only one national coordinating body for liaison with the Commission within each IOC member state. Unfortunately, in Ukraine there is no such legitimate coordinating body today. Considering the intergovernmental character of the Commission, this officially designated body is governmental by nature and relies on institutional basis as well as answers directly to a ministry. Therefore, in accordance with the requirements of the IOC UNESCO it is necessary to establish the Interdepartmental National Oceanographic Commission as a national coordinating body in Ukraine that will determine one or two coordinators, a professional national correspondent in the relevant IOC field, as well as representatives of intergovernmental programs and thematic groups.

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.

An Integrated Science Data Analytics Platform is an environment that enables the confluence of resources for scientific investigation. It harmonizes data, tools and computational resources to enable the research community to focus on the investigation rather than spending time on security, data preparation, management, etc. OceanWorks is a NASA technology integration project to establish a cloud-based Integrated Ocean Science Data Analytics Platform for big ocean science at NASA’s Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC) for big ocean science. It focuses on advancement and maturity by bringing together several NASA open-source, big data projects for parallel analytics, anomaly detection, in situ to satellite data matchup, quality-screened data subsetting, search relevancy, and data discovery. Our communities are relying on data available through distributed data centers to conduct their research. In typical investigations, scientists would (1) search for data, (2) evaluate the relevance of that data, (3) download it, and (4) then apply algorithms to identify trends, anomalies, or other attributes of the data. Such a workflow cannot scale if the research involves a massive amount of data or multi-variate measurements. With the upcoming NASA Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission expected to produce over 20PB of observational data during its 3-year nominal mission, the volume of data will challenge all existing Earth Science data archival, distribution and analysis paradigms. This paper discusses how OceanWorks enhances the analysis of physical ocean data where the computation is done on an elastic cloud platform next to the archive to deliver fast, web-accessible services for working with oceanographic measurements.

Progress within physical oceanography has been concurrent with the increasing sophistication of tools available for its study. The incorporation of machine learning (ML) techniques offers exciting possibilities for advancing the capacity and speed of established methods and for making substantial and serendipitous discoveries. Beyond vast amounts of complex data ubiquitous in many modern scientific fields, the study of the ocean poses a combination of unique challenges that ML can help address. The observational data available is largely spatially sparse, limited to the surface, and with few time series spanning more than a handful of decades. Important timescales span seconds to millennia, with strong scale interactions and numerical modelling efforts complicated by details such as coastlines. This review covers the current scientific insight offered by applying ML and points to where there is imminent potential. We cover the main three branches of the field: observations, theory, and numerical modelling. Highlighting both challenges and opportunities, we discuss both the historical context and salient ML tools. We focus on the use of ML in situ sampling and satellite observations, and the extent to which ML applications can advance theoretical oceanographic exploration, as well as aid numerical simulations. Applications that are also covered include model error and bias correction and current and potential use within data assimilation. While not without risk, there is great interest in the potential benefits of oceanographic ML applications; this review caters to this interest within the research community.

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).

All marine scientists who work in the field have them—personal stories of amazement, discovery, awe, excitement, and even danger while conducting research. They are the stories we love to tell to friends over a beer or to rapt high school students aspiring to become marine biologists or oceanographers. And in the telling, we ourselves somehow reconnect to the deepest motivations that brought us to marine research in the first place. Reliving those marvelous adventures displaces our disgruntlement with e-mail, proposals, and mundane paper work and reminds us how lucky we are to be marine scientists.

With recent legislation requiring reductions in the federal budget, ocean sciences funding will come under increased scrutiny. In order to make the public and our elected leaders more aware of the value of ocean sciences, there is no better time than now for us to increase our efforts in outreach, education, and advocacy. Many of us have learned to increase our public outreach through the "Broader Impacts" of our National Science Foundation (NSF) research grants (http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/gpg/broaderimpacts.pdf). We have developed better websites, blogs, and press releases so that teachers, students, and the general public can learn about our research. We have worked with undergraduate summer interns through the NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. Many of you have interacted with K–12 students or with middle and high school science teachers through the NSF Centers for Ocean Science Excellence (COSEE) Program and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Bay-Watershed Education and Training Program (BWET). All of these programs are great ways to increase appreciation for the ocean sciences, but we need to do more.