We would like to point your attention to the Big Ocean Button Challenge, an app competition sponsored by the XPRIZE Ocean Initiative, to advance development in ocean data sets in categories such as Fishing, Shipping and Trade, Ocean Acidification, Public Safety and Exploration. There are 20 amazing submissions that are now competing for $100,000 in prizes and XPRIZE is asking us to help them decide the winning solutions. Please visit the Big Ocean Button Challenge page to view the apps and cast your vote: https://herox.com/bigoceanbutton. You are encouraged to vote for the mobile app that best unlocks ocean data for public or private benefit, ideally while supporting responsible use and protection of our ocean. The Big Ocean Button Challenge is a smaller competition held as part of the XPRIZE Ocean Initiative efforts which started in 2010 with a call to develop 5 Ocean focused XPRIZE competitions by 2020.

Voting for the Big Ocean Button Challenge will remain open until 5pm PST on October 19^th and the winners will be announced early in 2018.

We would like to inform you that the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) has issued the 2018 Call for SCOR Visiting Scholars. SCOR has sent 26 of its visiting scholars to 15 developing countries to teach and mentor since 2009. This year, five Visiting Scholars will be supported.

Applications for the 2018 SCOR Visiting Scholars Program should be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 15 November 2017.

In April 2017, SOLAS and IMBER have disbanded their two carbon working groups that, based on the Joint SOLAS/IMBER Carbon Implementation Plan, were charged with coordination and synthesis of ocean carbon research related to both: ocean surface and ocean interior. Seeking new science directions, SOLAS and IMBER proposed an open discussion amongst all and any programs interested in ocean carbon research. IOCCP, GCP, CLIVAR, WCRP C-challenge and SOLAS and IMBER representatives expressed interest in such discussion and an initial, scoping side-meeting during the ICDC10 in Interlaken was organized. The meeting was attended by 13 participants representing the above mentioned programs and was chaired by Nicolas Gruber, a former chair of the SOLAS/IMBER Carbon Working Group 2.

We would like to let you know that NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean CArbon Data System (OCADS), formerly CDIAC-Oceans, has just published two new data products. First, there is a new version of the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory Global Ocean Surface Water Partial Pressure of CO₂ Database (LDEOv2016) available for download HERE. Second, OCADS/NCEI also published the Neutrally Averaged Radiocarbon Climatology data set by Casimir de Lavergne et al., from University of New South Wales, Australia, available HERE.

The Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS) International Project Office (IPO), located at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel in Germany, is searching for an Executive Director for the period of February 1, 2018 to December 31, 2020. The Executive Director is assisted by Project Officers based at GEOMAR and at Xiamen University, China. The IPO supports the Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) in implementing the SOLAS 2015-2025 Science Plan and Organisation. This is a full-time position.

Deadline for applications is 15 November 2017. For details of the position and application requirements please see our jobs site HERE.

SCOR held its 2017 Annual Meeting last week in Cape Town, South Africa, celebrating the 60^th anniversary of SCOR. An important feature of every SCOR annual meeting is consideration of proposals for new SCOR working groups. The proposals are reviewed by national SCOR committees, partner organizations, and others before the annual meeting and a significant portion of time at the meeting is devoted to discussing the proposals. This year three proposals were considered timely, relevant to SCOR and achievable using a SCOR working group approach.

IOCCP as Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) Biogeochemistry Expert Panel is happy to announce the release of GOOS Biogeochemistry Essential Ocean Variable (EOV) Specification Sheets version 2.0! The 2017 revision is the result of GOOS-wide dedicated efforts to better harmonize the EOV and associated concepts across all disciplines: physics & climate, biogeochemistry, biology & ecosystems; and to align the EOVs closer with the corresponding Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) developed by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS - see the 2016 GCOS Implementation Plan for details).

You can download the updated Biogoechemistry EOV Specification Sheets from our site HERE, and access the most recent versions of all GOOS EOVs from this site: www.goosocean.org/eov 

The International Group for Marine Ecological Time Series (IGMETS) has released its report entitled “What are Marine Ecological Time Series telling us about the ocean? A status report” (http://igmets.net/2017 or download). The report writing was generously supported by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC), the International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP), the Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Program (OCB), and the Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology (KIOST).

This report presents an analysis and overview of oceanic trends through the end of 2012, based on a collection of over 340 in situ marine ecological time series, and supplemented with satellite-based spatio-temporal sea surface temperature and chlorophyll background fields. This report features electronic supplements in the form of a Metabase (http://igmets.net/metabase) and the IGMETS time series Explorer (http://igmets.net/explorer), which allow users to further expand on the information featured in the text. The information contained in the report and IGMETS metabase is relevant for a number of Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs), including the biogeochemistry ones. 

We would like to inform you that the 22^nd PIRATA Conference (PIRATA 22) titled "PIRATA Project 20 Years Conference: Contributing to the understanding and prediction of the Tropical Atlantic Climates" will take place on 5-10 November 2017 in Fortaleza, CE, Brazil. The PIRATA acronym, originally defined as "Pilot Research Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic" in 1997, has been changed in 2008 to "Prediction and Research Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic". PIRATA is a multinational observation network, established to improve our knowledge and understanding of ocean-atmosphere variability in the tropical Atlantic. It is a joint project of Brazil, France and the United States of America.

For information on conference sessions and abstracts, as well as the organizing committee and meeting logistics, please see the conference website: http://www.funceme.br/pirata22/

Abstract submission deadline: 15 August 2017