Changing Science for the Better

At the One Ocean Summit last month, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the EU Commission, announced three key initiatives to preserve and revive the oceans: a new international coalition to protect biodiversity on high seas; a major computing project (The Digital Twin) allowing researchers to digitally simulate the world's oceans; and the EU's research mission to restore our ocean and waters by 2030.??

The ocean is still largely a great mystery for humankind, said President von der Leyen in her speech to the world leaders attending the Summit. And to solve this great mystery at pace, we must explore new ways to collaborate, share data, and observe the ocean.?

“The more we observe the ocean, the more we see that it is central to improving the health, wealth, and well-being of the human race,” writes the esteemed Dr. R Venkatesan, Programme Director of Ocean Observation Systems at India’s National Institute of Ocean Technology, in his perspective piece introducing this issue’s focus on the Physical Ocean.??

To kick start the new year, we reveal new insights about how our warming climate influences the ocean, and how changes to the ocean's physical and chemical properties impact marine life and the planet.

“There are few places on Earth as dynamic as the boundary between ocean and atmosphere,” writes Samantha Andrews in her story elegantly summarising the challenges we face monitoring one of the most physically and chemically active environments on the planet.

The air-sea interface is where heat and gasses are exchanged between the ocean and atmosphere. As such, the ocean is the largest natural carbon sink on the planet. But it cannot absorb excess carbon from our atmosphere without first paying a high price. Carbon sequestration specialist Planetary Hydrogen believes that with the help of the Ocean Startup Project, ‘wild card’ solutions such as ocean-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR) can help rebalance atmospheric carbon, relieving pressure on the ocean.??

?“…Ocean Acidification (OA) is one little-known yet wide-reaching effect of increasing carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere,” writes The Ocean Foundation.

Often referred to as the ‘evil twin’ of climate change, there is no surprise that OA features a lot in this Spring issue. We report on the launch of the new Decade-endorsed Ocean Acidification Research for Sustainability (OARS) initiative, reveal how The Ocean Foundation is building global OA resilience, discover PyroScience’s solutions for monitoring pH, and Pro-Oceanus Systems discuss how ocean-based CDR may impact OA monitoring.??

While we are busy solving these world-sized problems, we also have a responsibility to reduce our own carbon footprint. I spoke with Leigh Storey, Associate Director of the UK’s National Marine Facilities, about how the need to build net-zero capability in ocean science will require a major overhaul to a firmly ingrained way of doing things in science.?

Until we build a truly global ocean observation network, intelligent ocean modelling will play a hugely important role in forecasting changes over the next century. Stories from the University of British Columbia, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography show how new models can predict the fate of the North American lobster and reveal human footprints in the Southern Ocean.??

The Ocean Decade has already yielded hundreds of new initiatives, international coalitions, national pledges, and record-breaking funding from governments and the private sector. We must embrace new opportunities such as The Digital Twin and remote data collection so we can transform commitments - such as those announced at the recent Summit - into tangible and impactful outcomes for the ocean. But to achieve this, we must change how we conduct science and work together as a global community for the better.??

Read the Spring issue here.

Watch the trailer here.