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1. From the President, Martin Visbeck

As the summer break comes to close for many of us, it is a good time for me to call on your support for TOS and its activities. This summer, the TOS Council has agreed to set up a justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) committee. If you are interested in working with the Council to establish a number of measures to ensure that TOS fully engages in issues around JEDI, please consider becoming a member of this new committee. We have established a self-nomination procedure at this link. The deadline for self-nominations is August 31.

The Society is guided by its presidents and its Council. This fall, we have six councilor positions open: three existing (Physical Oceanography, Biological Oceanography, and Education) and three newly established seats (Early Career, Ocean Data Science, and Ocean Social Science and Policy). The TOS Council meets every other month virtually and guides TOS leadership in all matters. I invite you to join a team of leaders and to bring your vision, ideas and energy to our society by filling out a self-nomination form by September 15.

I wish you safe and productive months ahead. I am very happy to hear that an increasing number of institutions around the world have managed to resume some parts of their field operations.

2. Self-Nominations Welcomed for the TOS Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee 

The TOS JEDI Committee will engage with the TOS community, take actions, and make concrete suggestions to advance issues in the context of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. The committee will support the TOS community in embracing and celebrating our differences, broadening participation, and creating a culture of belonging. In addition, it will suggest ways in which the TOS Council can facilitate the recruitment, participation, and retention of diverse individuals into its membership; combat injustice, discrimination, and harassment in the ocean science discipline; and ensure that the benefits of ocean sciences are accrued by all members of the Society. We invite interested members to submit a self-nomination for this committee by using this online application. Submissions are due August 31.

3. TOS Council Election Self-Nominations

To better include additional voices from all areas of ocean science, the following additional thematic positions have been added to the TOS Council: Early Career, Ocean Social Science and Policy, and Ocean Data Science. These three positions as well as those for President-Elect, Physical Oceanography, Biological Oceanography, and Education will be on this fall’s election ballot.

Following our tradition of making these opportunities available to a wide number of TOS members, we will invite members to submit self-nominations for consideration for inclusion on the ballot for the Council positions. The self-nomination form is available here, and you are welcome to contact the TOS Executive Director or TOS President with questions. Information about the role of Councilors and the scientific areas they represent appears below. self-nominations for consideration for inclusion on the ballot are due September 15.

TOS Council members guide the direction and activities of the Society. Representing the broad range of expertise and experience across the ocean sciences, Council members serve a three-year term and participate in regular conference calls to conduct customary oversight responsibilities such as reviewing financial and other reports as well as developing and implementing new programs.

The Physical Oceanography Councilor represents the ocean physics community including disciplines such as physical oceanography, ocean acoustics, ocean circulation, physical ocean climate, air-sea exchanges.

The Biological Oceanography Councilor represents the ocean biological science community including disciplines such as biological oceanography, marine ecology, biodiversity, fisheries sciences, benthic ecology, and marine genomics.

The Education Councilor represents the ocean education community including aspects such as ocean education curricula, ocean literacy, school programs, and the engagement of young minds.

The Early Career Councilor represents the needs of early career ocean professionals and communicates opportunities across all areas of engagement of the TOS family.

The Ocean Social Science and Policy Councilor represents the ocean social science community broadly defined including disciplines such as law of the sea, marine social sciences, ocean resource economics, marine policy, and marine environmental ethics.

The Ocean Data Science Councilor represents the ocean data science community including disciplines such as informatics, ocean data sciences, interoperability, big-data, data visualization, data sharing.

4. Ideas for Oceanography Special Issues?

Is there some topic that you would like to see Oceanography tackle in a special issue? Please send a short paragraph explaining your ideas to Editor Ellen Kappel at magazine@tos.org.