Search for: All records

The Surface Ocean-Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS) is a global research network dedicated to advancing coupled oceanographic and atmospheric science, a field that requires both interdisciplinary and globally distributed expertise. Since 2004, SOLAS has fostered an international interdisciplinary scientific community through coordinated science and capacity sharing activities. This paper outlines how SOLAS 3.0 (2026–2035) will build on this legacy by further prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion, and expanding and strengthening research at the ocean-​atmosphere interface. SOLAS 3.0 new initiatives include a mentorship program, skill enhancement workshops, increasing access to resources, and a network of observation and training centers. By learning from past successes and challenges, SOLAS 3.0 aims to inspire scientists from around the world, as well as the next generation, to address complex transdisciplinary research and tackle present and future societal challenges in a truly global way. 

Abstract Fronts are ubiquitous discrete features of the global ocean often associated with enhanced vertical velocities, in turn boosting primary production. Fronts thus form dynamical and ephemeral ecosystems where numerous species meet across all trophic levels. Fronts are also targeted by fisheries. Capturing ocean fronts and studying their long-term variability in relation with climate change is thus key for marine resource management and spatial planning. The Mediterranean Sea and the Southwest Indian Ocean are natural laboratories to study front-marine life interactions due to their energetic flow at sub-to-mesoscales, high biodiversity (including endemic and endangered species) and numerous conservation initiatives. Based on remotely-sensed Sea Surface Temperature and Height, we compute thermal fronts (2003–2020) and attracting Lagrangian coherent structures (1994–2020), in both regions over several decades. We advocate for the combined use of both thermal fronts and attracting Lagrangian coherent structures to study front-marine life interactions. The resulting front dataset differs from other alternatives by its high spatio-temporal resolution, long time coverage, and relevant thresholds defined for ecological provinces. 

Introduction Ocean fronts are moving ephemeral biological hotspots forming at the interface of cooler and warmer waters. In the open ocean, this is where marine organisms, ranging from plankton to mesopelagic fish up to megafauna, gather and where most fishing activities concentrate. Fronts are critical ecosystems so that understanding their spatio-temporal variability is essential not only for conservation goals but also to ensure sustainable fisheries. The Mozambique Channel (MC) is an ideal laboratory to study ocean front variability due to its energetic flow at sub-to-mesoscales, its high biodiversity and the currently debated conservation initiatives. Meanwhile, fronts detection relying solely on remotely-sensed Sea Surface Temperature (SST) cannot access aspects of the subsurface frontal activity that may be relevant for understanding ecosystem dynamics. Method In this study, we used the Belkin and O’Reilly Algorithm on remotely-sensed SST and hindcasts of a high-resolution nested ocean model to investigate the spatial and seasonal variability of temperature fronts at different depths in the MC. Results We find that the seasonally varying spatial patterns of frontal activity can be interpreted as resulting from main features of the mean circulation in the MC region. In particular, horizontally, temperature fronts are intense and frequent along continental shelves, in islands’ wakes, at the edge of eddies, and in the pathways of both North-East Madagascar Current (NEMC) and South-East Madagascar Current (SEMC). In austral summer, thermal fronts in the MC are mainly associated with the Angoche upwelling and seasonal variability of the Mozambique current. In austral winter, thermal fronts in the MC are more intense when the NEMC and the Seychelles-Chagos and South Madagascar upwelling cells intensify. Vertically, the intensity of temperature fronts peaks in the vicinity of the mean thermocline. Discussion Considering the marked seasonality of frontal activity evidenced here and the dynamical connections of the MC circulation with equatorial variability, our study calls for addressing longer timescales of variability to investigate how ocean ecosystem/front interactions will evolve with climate change. 

In this paper, we outline the need for a coordinated international effort toward the building of an open-access Global Ocean Oxygen Database and ATlas (GO 2 DAT) complying with the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). GO 2 DAT will combine data from the coastal and open ocean, as measured by the chemical Winkler titration method or by sensors (e.g., optodes, electrodes) from Eulerian and Lagrangian platforms (e.g., ships, moorings, profiling floats, gliders, ships of opportunities, marine mammals, cabled observatories). GO 2 DAT will further adopt a community-agreed, fully documented metadata format and a consistent quality control (QC) procedure and quality flagging (QF) system. GO 2 DAT will serve to support the development of advanced data analysis and biogeochemical models for improving our mapping, understanding and forecasting capabilities for ocean O 2 changes and deoxygenation trends. It will offer the opportunity to develop quality-controlled data synthesis products with unprecedented spatial (vertical and horizontal) and temporal (sub-seasonal to multi-decadal) resolution. These products will support model assessment, improvement and evaluation as well as the development of climate and ocean health indicators. They will further support the decision-making processes associated with the emerging blue economy, the conservation of marine resources and their associated ecosystem services and the development of management tools required by a diverse community of users (e.g., environmental agencies, aquaculture, and fishing sectors). A better knowledge base of the spatial and temporal variations of marine O 2 will improve our understanding of the ocean O 2 budget, and allow better quantification of the Earth’s carbon and heat budgets. With the ever-increasing need to protect and sustainably manage ocean services, GO 2 DAT will allow scientists to fully harness the increasing volumes of O 2 data already delivered by the expanding global ocean observing system and enable smooth incorporation of much higher quantities of data from autonomous platforms in the open ocean and coastal areas into comprehensive data products in the years to come. This paper aims at engaging the community (e.g., scientists, data managers, policy makers, service users) toward the development of GO 2 DAT within the framework of the UN Global Ocean Oxygen Decade (GOOD) program recently endorsed by IOC-UNESCO. A roadmap toward GO 2 DAT is proposed highlighting the efforts needed (e.g., in terms of human resources).