Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry

2026 OCB Activity Proposals due Oct 24 + info webinar recording

Proposal info webinar September 23, 3-4pm This webinar featured recent successful OCB activities and their PIs, Q&A with Project Office staff on community building and what makes a successful OCB proposal and activity. Watch the webinar recording The Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry (OCB) Program is soliciting proposals for OCB activities that will take place or […]

NSF Ocean Sciences Office Hours – September 30

NSF Ocean Sciences Office Hours September 30, 3-4:30 PM (ET) Staff and division leadership will share information and updates on preparing proposals, address commonly asked questions, and answer yours. These office hours webinars will not be recorded. Register https://nsf.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_yu5jE4EWQl2FyUZ1x2LEAw?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery#/registration

2025 Call for OCB Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) nominations

OCB is seeking nominations for new Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) members, including a new early career member! The term begins in January 2026. The following SSC members are scheduled to rotate off at the end of 2025: Yige Zhang (formerly Texas A&M University) – paleoceanography and paleoclimatology; organic and stable isotope geochemistry; global biogeochemical cycles […]

OCB2025 recordings – a week of science, connection, community

Your watch recordings of the workshop on the OCB YouTube channel. Constraining the dark ocean carbon cycle: Implications for ocean carbon budgets? (Co-chairs: Anne Dekas, Anela Choy, Jeff Bowman, Randie Bundy) Rivers to coasts: Biogeochemical linkages and environmental resilience (joint with North American Carbon Program) (Co-chairs: Fei Da, Kanchan Maiti, Shaily Rahman, Libby Larson, David […]

Survey Request on mCDR

California Ocean Science Trust, in collaboration with a network of partners across the U.S West Coast and Alaska, is conducting a survey to assess the need for and inform the development of a regional marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) exchange/network. Building on existing networks and progress made by the Pacific Northwest and California Current Regional […]

NEW Report: Pathways Connecting Climate Changes to the Deep Ocean

Now published – workshop report from the Pathways Connecting Climate Changes to the Deep Ocean: Tracing physical, biogeochemical, and ecological signals from the surface to the deep sea A joint OCB-US CLIVAR scoping workshop This workshop will brought together observational oceanographers and modelers across physical, biogeochemical, and ecological communities to assess our understanding of pathways […]

METS RCN workshop recordings

Watch recordings from the METS RCN workshop held in April on the OCB YouTube Channel. International Workshop: FAIR Data Practices for Ship-based Marine Ecological Time Series April 22-25, 2025 (ASU/BIOS, Bermuda) Workshop report: https://www.us-ocb.org/fair-data-practices-for-marine-ecological-time-series/ More on METS RCN Workshop: https://www2.whoi.edu/site/mets-rcn/projects/fair-ship-based-ocean-time-series-international-workshop/

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.

New: Connecting Observations to Models

Ombres, E., H. Benway, K. Bisson, A. Larkin, L. Perotti, L. Wright-Fairbanks (eds.) (2024). Connecting Observations to Models: Biogeochemical Observing and Modeling Workshop, 2024 Summary Report and Suggested Steps Forward. Published Date: 2024 Series: NOAA technical memorandum OAR-OAP ; 6, DOI: https://doi.org/10.25923/wpdj-ja69

Recent Science Highlights

From smoke to sea, how wildfire ash reshapes ocean microbial life

When wildfire smoke drifts over the ocean, what happens beneath the waves? As wildfires change in nature and become more frequent, it’s increasingly important to understand how ash deposition affects the ocean’s smallest, yet most essential, inhabitants. In a recent study, the authors investigated how wildfire ash leachate influences coastal microbial communities. Through field incubations […]

How does a persistent eddy impact the biological carbon pump?

The Lofoten Basin Eddy (LBE) is a unique and persistent anticyclonic feature of the Norwegian Sea that stirs the water column year-round. However, its impact on biogeochemical processes that influence region carbon storage, including carbon fixation, particle aggregation and fragmentation, and remineralization, has remained largely unknown. Using 12 years of data from Biogeochemical-Argo floats and […]

New software enables global ocean biogeochemical modeling in Python

Have you ever wondered what life would be like if you could write and run complex biogeochemical models easily and conveniently in Python? Wonder no more. In a paper published in J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., Samar Khatiwala (2025; see reference below) describes tmm4py, a new software to enable efficient, global scale biogeochemical modelling in […]

Migrating zooplankton increase N2 production in Oxygen Deficient Zones

Diel Vertically Migrating Zooplankton that spend their day in an Oxygen Deficient Zone to avoid predators are a previously ignored source of organic matter for N2 producing bacteria. A recent study in GBC, examined biogeochemical cycling in the offshore Eastern Tropical North Pacific Oxygen Deficient Zone. They found that the daytime maximum in backscattering, used […]

Giant iceberg meltwater supplies nutrients to upper ocean layers

Iceberg meltwater induces mixing which erodes upper-ocean layers. This supplies nutrients, both released from the iceberg and entrained from deeper waters, to surface waters which stimulates phytoplankton growth. Meltwater from the base, sidewalls and surface of giant icebergs influences upper ocean stratification and mixing. Containing a substantial micro-nutrient load, (incorporating nutrient-rich deep waters along with […]

Tracing the biological carbon pump across diverse export regimes

The ocean’s biological carbon pump (BCP) plays a crucial role in regulating Earth’s climate. But how efficiently does it transport carbon to the deep? It has been difficult to answer this question because observations are sparse, labor-intensive, and the uncertainties of the BCP’s magnitude, which are nearly equivalent to human emissions. Fortunately, autonomous vehicles unlock […]