Ocean Science

Editor-in-Chief

(Visit the CALL FOR PAPERS on the Elementa blog.)

The ocean that defines our blue planet Earth is increasingly subject to the impacts of human activities. As atmospheric conditions have changed, the ocean has responded, changing in temperature, sea ice cover, sea level, and capacity to absorb and release gases, to acidify and to cycle nutrients. As coastal populations and commercial activities have grown, the ocean has experienced increases in eutrophication, harmful algal blooms, invasive species, dramatic pollution events, and loss of biodiversity. Marine organisms and ecosystems throughout the ocean face multiple environmental challenges; their fates impact human well being in return. Virtually none of the ocean remains pristine as human activities and impacts on its ice, water, and sediments accelerate. Effective ocean policy requires the best possible scientific foundation for understanding the ocean as it functions today, has functioned in the past, and can be expected to change in future. Innovative tools and approaches to studying the ocean bring a new pace of expanding databases to achieve this understanding. The pursuit of ocean science is thus a critical human endeavor. It is also an exciting one, with discovery always on the horizon. Part of human interaction with the ocean is to be awed by its mysteries and emerging clues to larger questions on the origins and evolution of life, the subsurface biosphere, and the physical, chemical and geological underpinnings of the ocean as we know it. Ocean scientists are both rooted in their various disciplines and uniquely skilled at advancing knowledge at the interface of disciplines. A forum is needed to foster and accelerate broad awareness of this knowledge, as it is generated and synthesized, and facilitate the incorporation of new understanding into ocean policy.

The Ocean Science domain seeks to publish original research papers that address all aspects of ocean science, including fundamental, discovery-based and innovative applied research. Papers on findings at the interface of the core disciplines in oceanography (biological, chemical, geological, physical) are especially encouraged. Articles on topics of wide appeal that make clear connections between research findings and problem-solving or policy development are of particular interest. In accordance with the aims and scope of Elementa, the Ocean Science domain fully recognizes the impact of human activity on the ocean, the essential dependency of our well being on its functions and the urgent need to bring new knowledge to immediate and wide attention. We aim to meet the challenge of publishing high quality research papers that can be understood by a well educated but broad audience and can contribute to problem-solving at the local, regional, and global scale of the ocean.

Non-exclusive examples of the type of research topics sought by this domain include:

• Ecosystem, organism, or biogeochemical responses to a changing environment
• Responses and feedbacks at ocean boundaries (air-ocean, ice-ocean, land-ocean)
• Processes, reactions, and adaptations to ocean acidification and other impacts
• Thresholds and tipping points in critical ocean areas
• New tools (models, sensors, programs) for improved measurements and predictions
• Assessment of existing and new approaches to valuing ocean ecosystem functions
• New economic, regulatory, or policy paradigms for the ocean

Associate Editors

Stephen F. Ackley
Research Associate Professor
Department of Geological Sciences
University of Texas at San Antonio, TX, USA

Mathieu Ardyna
Researcher
Takuvik International Research Laboratory
CNRS/Université Laval
Québec City, Canada

Kevin R. Arrigo
Professor in Earth Sciences
Department of Earth System Science
Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

Tamar Barkay (emerita)
Distinguished Professor of Microbiology
School of Environmental and Biological Sciences
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ, USA

Jeff S. Bowman
Assistant Professor
Integrative Oceanography Division
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, CA, USA

Eddy C. Carmack (emeritus)
Climate Research Oceanographer: Sydney Chapman Chair in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Senior Research Scientist Emeritus, Institute of Ocean Sciences, Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

Rita R. Colwell (emerita)
Distinguished University Professor
University of Maryland at College Park
and Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
Chairman and President, CosmosID, Inc., MD, USA

Maxime Geoffrey
Research Scientist
Fisheries and Marine Institute
Memorial University of Newfoundland
St. John’s, Newfoundland, CA

Christine Michel
Research Scientist
Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada
Adjunct Professor
University of Manitoba, Canada
Adjunct Professor
Université du Québec à Rimouski, Canada

Lisa A. Miller
Chemical Oceanographer
Institute of Ocean Sciences, Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

Fabien Roquet
Professor
Department of Marine Sciences
University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Laurenz Thomsen
Professor
Department of Marine Sciences
University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Jean-Éric Tremblay
Professor, Department of Biology, and
Executive Director of Quebec-Ocean
Université Laval, Canada