2014 Ocean Sciences Meeting
Annette Wilson
Earth and Ocean Sciences & The Ryan Institute
2014 Ocean Sciences Meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
The 2014 Ocean Sciences Meeting took place in Honolulu, Hawaii and was a truly inspirational experience that I am extremely grateful to The Challenger Society for assisting in making my attendance possible. The meeting included over 5,000 oral and poster presentations. The 2014 OSM was exceptionally well organized with its own conference app and 12 concurrent sessions, covering all aspects and disciplines of ocean sciences running all day over the six day conference. The keynote speakers were more than inspiring, with emotional, moving and refreshing talks, particularly from Elizabeth Kapu’uwailami Lindsey, the first Polynesian explorer and female fellow in the history of the National Geographic Society, Robert Richmond, the very humours “Dr.Doolittle” inspired coral reef and climate change Research Professor and Director of the University of Hawaii and Roger Hanlon, a diving biologist and cephalopod expert whom I had previously seen on TED talks!
This was my first international conference to speak at and I gave an oral presentation on my PhD research on ‘Nepheloid Layers in the Whittard Canyon, North East Atlantic” at the Submarine Canyons: Oceanographic Conditions, Geological Features, and Ecological Settings session. I was extremely nervous all week in anticipation of my talk as it was on the last day but it felt fantastic giving my talk. I really enjoyed it, which I had not expect and my work was well received with questions and very useful feedback from other scientists after the session. It was amazing to be in a room of people that were interested in my work. The whole experience has motivated me and illuminated possible future avenues for my work.
A sincere thank you to The Challenger Society for Marine Science.
Annette Wilson,
Earth and Ocean Sciences & The Ryan Institute,
School of Natural Sciences,
NUI Galway,
Ireland.
Latest News
NOC Association (NOCA) AGM 2025
The 14th AGM of the NOC Association will be held on Thursday 15th and Friday 16th May 2025. This free, on-line event will take place on Zoom, across two consecutive mornings, each starting at 10:00 and ending at 12:30. The agenda will focus on national capability (NC) science, ships, and autonomous vehicles, and how the community can engage. There will be an update on AtlantiS and on the new marine science scoping group. All are warmly welcome to join.
To participate, please complete your registration here.
For enquiries: Jackie Pearson, Secretary to NOCA: jfpea@noc.ac.uk
Townhall on UK Arctic Ocean contribution to International Polar Year 32/33
The Arctic is one of the most rapidly-changing regions on our planet, with impacts on global sea-level rise, changes to our climate and weather patterns, and threats to our shared biodiversity and ecosystem services. With the international community rapidly mobilising towards the International Polar Year 32/33, and with new international programmes and initiatives now being shaped, it is timely for the UK Ocean Science community to come together and articulate what its unique offerings could be to Arctic research and technology.
This hybrid 2-day meeting, to be held at NOC Southampton, is intended to start this process. Recognising the Arctic Oceans role in global Earth and Human systems, anticipated outcomes include a high-level shaping of what the UK Arctic Ocean community would like to achieve over the course of the IPY, stimulation of new collaborations and proposals for grand Arctic challenges and a baseline from which wider integration with terrestrial, atmospheric and cryosphere communities, both in the UK and overseas, can be built. Discussions will continue in diverse forums, including the UK Arctic Science Meeting in September and at Challenger 2026.
This action is supported by the UK Arctic Office and UK Arctic and Antarctic Partnership
Further details and meeting registration link will be circulated in April together with a questionnaire to help shape the agenda and discussion
In the meantime…SAVE THE DATE
Potential Availability of NERC Ship Time During the 25/26 Programme Year
The NERC Marine Facilities Programme for 2025/2026 for the RRS Discovery and the RRS James Cook has been published on the Marine Facilities Planning website.
The RRS Discovery programme currently contains a 79 day alongside slot between the 2nd of November 2025 and the 19th of January 2026, which is available for science delivery if funded science projects can make use of this time. Due to the location of the vessel, the ship is most likely to be able to deliver fieldwork in the North and East Atlantic regions. Some support for science capability within the National Marine Equipment Pool is potentially available, although there is no capacity for use of autonomous vehicles or remotely operated vehicles. Any fieldwork within Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) will need the appropriate diplomatic clearance submitted to coastal states at least 6 months in advance, and to NMF with sufficient lead time for processing via the FCDO.
If interested in making use of this ship time, please contact NERC Marine Planning (marineplanning@nerc.ukri.org) ASAP to start discussions.