The TPOS 2020 Project is evaluating and where necessary will implement changes to the Tropical Pacific Observing System. The project's aim is to ensure and improve the utility and sustainability of the Tropical Pacific Observing System. These deliberations must be based on the current understanding of tropical Pacific science and on anticipation of the needs of observing system stakeholders in the coming decades. To this end, the TPOS 2020 Biogeochemistry Task Team has put together a set of questions specifically about the biogeochemistry observational needs in the TPOS backbone design. The assessment of tradeoffs in the TPOS design will depend in part on answers to these questions.

Input to the Online Questionnaire before 15 January 2016 would be very appreciated!

We are pleased to announce the launch of the Latin American Ocean Acidification Network (LAOCA Network) a regional counterpart of the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network (GOA-ON). On December 15^th, 2015, a group of 24 scientists from seven Latin-American countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru met at the city of Concepcion, Chile to establish the LAOCA.

The Oceans 2015 Initiative has produced a Policy Brief to try raising the profile of the ocean at 21^st session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP21) and beyond. The English version is available now while the French, Spanish and Chinese versions will be available in the next few weeks from the website below. Do not hesitate to disseminate.

http://www.iddri.org/Publications/Intertwined-ocean-and-climate-implications-for-international-climate-negotiations

The SOLAS-IMBER Working Group on Ocean Acidification has expressed its concern over the improper use of terminology by some scientists, media outlets and general public. The plea is published on the OA-ICC news stream where comments can be made. Some distinguished colleagues have have already made interesting comments which might lead us all to a systematic and globally agreed solution.

The observation-based pCO₂ fields were created using a 2-step neural network technique. In a first step, the global ocean is divided into 16 biogeochemical provinces using a self organizing map. In a second step, the non-linear relationship between variables known to drive the surface ocean carbon system and gridded observations from the SOCATv2 dataset (Bakker et al. 2014) is reconstructed using a feed-forward neural network within each province separately.

The organizers aim to expand the scope of the meeting to include measurements of dissolved greenhouse gases and related ocean tracers for the first time! First circular

See the conference website for confirmed plenary speakers and further details about the conference. Remember that as a participant, you will be able to express your wish to be considered to give a talk in one of the plenary sessions.

Climatological mean monthly distributions of pH in the total H+ scale, total CO₂ concentration (TCO₂), and the degree of CaCO₃ saturation for the global surface ocean waters (excluding coastal areas) are calculated using a data set for pCO₂, alkalinity and nutrient concentrations in surface waters (depths less than 50 m), which is built upon the GLODAP, CARINA and LDEO database.

The Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling (SOCCOM website) program will commence in September 2014 with an initial commitment of $3.5 million per year over 6 years ($21 million dollars total). SOCCOM program is a six‐year initiative funded by the US NSF to drive a transformative shift in the scientific and public understanding of the role of the Southern Ocean in climate change and biogeochemistry.

An interesting compilation of the state of ocean acidification research and understanding has just been published and can be downloaded here.