The Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) began its Visiting Scholars Program in 2009. The purpose of this program is to send scientists to teach and mentor in developing countries to help build capacity for ocean science in these countries. So far, 19 Visiting Scholars have been sent to Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Since 2010, three Visiting Scholars have been selected each year. Thirty applications were received for the 2017 class of Visiting Scholars. SCOR is seeking additional funding for 2017 to increase the number of Visiting Scholars to at least 5. A crowdfunding campaign has been set up at https://www.razoo.com/us/story/Wclndf.

In response to amounting requests to highlight specific sessions at the upcoming 2017 EGU General Assembly, 23-28 April, Vienna, Austria, we provide a subjectively selected list of sessions relevant for the marine biogeochemistry community. You can access the list through the link HERE. If you're interested in adding a session to this list, please send us an email.

Please remember that the abstract submission deadline is 11 January 2017.

On behalf of the Global Carbon Project, we are happy to inform you that a new Global Methane (CH₄) Budget has just been published after years of preparation, networking, and synthesis work. The new assessment, published in Earth System Science Data, presents the global CH₄ budget arising from both natural and human-induced emissions, and how CH₄ is destroyed in the atmosphere by chemical reactions and soil uptake.

You can access the relevant papers, figures and data from HERE. See also an interactive CH₄ source emission visualization at this SITE. 

We would like to announce that the data management activities for the ocean component of the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC-Oceans) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in the US have recently stopped.

Please see the attached letter which provides information on steps being taken to minimize the impact of this stoppage on the oceanographic community. If you have any questions, please contact Kathy Tedesco at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

In the context of the EU AtlantOS Project, IOCCP started it's work towards defining quantifiable targets for the biogeochemical observing system. As with development of Essential Ocean Variables we hope for a wide community input over time. The first step of this effort is to focus on the Atlanic Ocean before expanding the process to other basins.

A second inter-laboratory comparison of seawater CO₂ measurements is planned for the second quarter of 2017. The goal of this comparison is to assess the present quality of seawater CO₂ measurements for total alkalinity, total dissolved inorganic carbon, and pH. We encourage all laboratories to participate, whether they participated in 2013 or not. 

On behalf of the Surface Ocean CO₂ Atlas (SOCAT) Team, we would like to remind you that submission of data for SOCAT version 5 ends 15 January 2017, and that Quality control for version 5 ends 31 March 2017.

We are very happy to announce that SCOR-JAMSTEC Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) will be available to anyone wanting to use them from a brand new English language JAMSTEC-based website at this address: http://www.jamstec.go.jp/scor/. 

We would like to let you know about the call for expert nominations for the Author Team for the Atlantic Ocean Observing System Blueprint 2019. The rationale for developing the Blueprint, to be delivered for the OceanObs19 conference, is to advance the current ocean observing system components to obtain an international, more sustainable, more efficient, more integrated, and fit-for-purpose ocean observing system, coordinated through the UNESCO-IOC Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). Self-nomination for the Blueprint Author Team can be submitted under the following website: https://www.surveymonkey.de/r/B8GSSFX. Such a group will benefit from the work of EU Horizon 2020 AtlantOS and similar projects.

The deadline for applications is the 6 January 2017.

Save the date for the 4^th International Symposium: The Effects of Climate Change on the World's Oceans, which will take place on June 4-8, 2018, in Washington DC, USA. The Symposium will bring together experts from around the world to better understand climate impacts on ocean ecosystems – and how to respond.