Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry

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.

New BECS publications!

Two papers published by the BECS WG! Schultz, C., Luo, J. Y., Brady, D. C., Fulweiler, R. W., Long, M. H., Petrik, C. M., Testa, J. M., Benway, H. M., Burdige, D., Cecchetto, M. M., Elegbede, I., Evans, N., Frenzel, A., Gillen, K., Herbert, L. C., Hirsh, H. K., Lessin, G., Levin, L., Maiti, K., […]

Register today for these upcoming OCB webinars

May 28, 11am ET SedMIP webinar Introducing GFDL’s Carbon, Benthic Ecosystems, and Diagenesis model (CBED) – Jessica Luo (NOAA GFDL) and Subhadeep Rakshit (Princeton Univ) Register June 23, 1pm ET: Metabarcoding Intercal WG webinar OCB meta-eukomics: Insights from a microeukaryote metatranscriptomics intercomparison effort (Speakers: Natalie Cohen, Univ Georgia; Sarah Hu, TAMU; Harriet Alexander, WHOI) MetaZooGene […]

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OPO WG Bigelow August 2023 Meeting IMG_7748

New pub from the Operational Phytoplankton Observations Working Group!

New publication from the Operational Phytoplankton Observations (OPO) Working Group! Citation: Clayton, S., Neeley, A., Poulton, N., et al., (2026) Operational Phytoplankton Observations Best Practices: a guide for using imaging technologies for routine monitoring of phytoplankton communities. Version 1.0.0. Woods Hole, MA, Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Program, Operational Phytoplankton Observations Working Group, 96pp. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25607/OBP-2059 […]

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

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 […]

Improving our view of particle attenuation in the Southern Ocean with BGC-Argo floats

How much organic carbon is actually transported to depth in the Southern Ocean and what are the mechanisms driving seasonal and regional variability? With large-scale remote sensing observations constrained to the surface and the depth-resolved ship-based measurements being scarce, the emergence of the BGC-Argo fleet has opened up a new avenue to explore how carbon […]

New unified interface for existing ocean carbonate chemistry data products

The paper provides a comprehensive synthesis of 68 existing ocean carbonate chemistry data products and data product sets, including cruise-based compilations, time-series datasets, gap-filled observational products, and model-based reconstructions. The authors highlight the diversity of available products, noting differences in spatial coverage, temporal resolution, methodologies, and intended scientific applications. By systematically cataloguing and comparing these […]