Once per month, we will replace our Weekly Newsletter with an update on the ocean science and education programs that we manage at Ocean Leadership. Recent news stories about Ocean Leadership and about each program are available here. We are interested to hear your feedback about these updates and our Weekly Newsletter. Please contact us and let us know what you think.

DISCOVERY

Census of Marine Life
The International Secretariat will host a meeting of the National and Regional Implementation Committees of the Census of Marine Life (CoML) in Washington DC on May 1-2. A group of representatives from 12 different countries will discuss the final synthesis of information of the 10 years of CoML from a regional perspective. The products of this meeting will become part of the larger All Program Synthesis of the Census.

Recently, a paper resulting from a 2006 U.S. National Committee workshop (USNC) was formally accepted for publication in an upcoming issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. The paper, titled “Managing for Ocean Biodiversity: Creating a National Biodiversity Conservation Agenda to Sustain Marine Ecosystem Services," is the first time a paper produced directly out of a USNC organized activity has been published. Programmatically, the U.S. National Committee has been examining a number of upcoming high-profile conference and symposia opportunities in an effort to best increase visibility for the Census of Marine Life program within the United States. For more information about the daily activities of the U.S. CoML program, please visit www.CoML.us.

Ocean Observatories Initiative
A comprehensive suite of design and management documents developed by the OOI Project Team for the Preliminary Design Review held by NSF in December is now available online. The documents, various presentations made throughout PDR, and additional supporting and background documents can be accessed here. The overall conclusion of the NSF PDR Panel was extremely positive. The final PDR Panel Report contains 42 recommendations that will help with planning steps leading to the OOI Final Design Review in October/November 2008 and eventual submission of the program to the National Science Board for approval of the start of MREFC funding.

An ad hoc group of community representatives is serving as a nominating committee for a new Program Advisory Committee (PAC) for the OOI. The nominating committee is in its final stages and will forward names to Ocean Leadership and NSF, followed by invitations to serve on the PAC in May. The newly formed committee, which will take over the primary community advisory responsibility carried out by the interim Observatory Steering Committee, will meet to consider what further advisory subgroups are needed. Nominating committee members include: David Karl (U. Hawaii), and Margaret Leinen (Climos), Steve Lohrenz (U. Southern Mississippi), Susan Lozier (Duke), Mike Purdy (Lamont-Doherty), and Don Wright (Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences).

Integrated Ocean Drilling Program
Acquisition of science equipment for the new and improved JOIDES Resolution is 98% complete, and 80% of the vessel conversion work is now complete. The schedule that SODV program officials are currently working to indicates that the shipyard will redeliver the JOIDES Resolution at the end of August 2008. After this, science equipment will be installed and tested, followed by sea trials and transit to the port call for the first scheduled expedition – Canterbury Basin. The outreach team for IODP-USIO has produced an updated slideshow of the progress of the conversion work in the shipyard, it is available on Ocean Leadership’s YouTube Channel.

The April 11, 2008 issue of Science featured the work of scientists who analyzed samples from the Ocean Drilling Program – IODP’s predecessor program. The researchers developed a new way of determining the size and frequency of meteorites that have collided with Earth by measuring osmium isotope levels during the late Eocene period, a time during which large meteorite impacts are known to have occurred. Their work shows that the size of the meteorite that likely plummeted to Earth 65 million years ago was four to six kilometers in diameter. The meteorite was the trigger, scientists believe, for the mass extinction of dinosaurs and other life forms.

The IODP Publication Services group at Texas A&M University has received two prestigious awards. The group is part of Ocean Leadership’s science services partner in the U.S. Implementing Organization for IODP. In the Society for Technical Communication's International Technical Art Competition, IODP-TAMU’s Publication Services received an Excellence Award for the IODP-USIO FY06 Annual Report and a Merit Award for the IODP Expedition 310 DVD Packaging in the category of packaging design. Congratulations!

Science Development and Coordination
The U.S. Advisory Committee for Scientific Ocean Drilling (USAC) has assembled a set of resources to help colleagues raise awareness about the research of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program. Realizing that the community has diverse talents, skills, interests, and resources, USAC provides different approaches that could be taken to ensure that decision makers know the results of IODP’s exciting research. The material, which includes white papers, sample slides, and suggestions on how to engage communities, can be found here.

The U.S. Science Support Program (USSSP) currently has several opportunities to participate directly in IODP, including serving on advisory panels, sailing on an upcoming expedition, and attending a workshop. We strongly encourage the involvement of early career scientists, as well as others with more experience in these activities. For more information on these and other opportunities to participate in IODP, please point your browser to www.oceanleadership.org/usssp.

National Oceanographic Partnership Program
Ocean Leadership will orchestrate two NOPP review panels this spring; the first will meet on May 9 to review research proposals submitted to NOPP under the topic ‘Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation.’ A second evaluation team will meet in early June to review proposals submitted to NOPP on ‘Exploration and Research of Northern Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Natural and Artificial Hard Bottom Habitats with Emphasis on Coral Communities: Reefs, Rigs and Wrecks.’ This research is being co-funded through the Minerals Management Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research.

Ocean Research and Resources Advisory Panel
The Ocean Research and Resources Advisory Panel (ORRAP) advisory body to the federal ocean-related agencies, recently held a two-day meeting at Ocean Leadership. A major topic for the meeting was the state of the ocean energy industry, a theme that will be carried into the ORRAP’s next meeting. The group held a joint session with the Joint Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology, during which future relationships between the two groups were discussed. Additionally, seven new members began their terms on ORRAP.

UNDERSTANDING

National Ocean Sciences Bowl
The 11th Annual National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB®) is being held April 25-27 at Seward High School in Seward, Alaska. High School students from all over the United States will compete in the NOSB Final Competition with prizes and scholarships on the line.

In February the NOSB hosted regional competitions around the nation at twenty five different sites, where teams competed over their knowledge of our oceans. Approximately 2,000 students from over 300 high schools participated this year and each regional championship team will participate in the 2008 NOSB Finals.

Deep Earth Academy
Deep Earth Academy teamed up with IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology) to provide professional development in the Earth Sciences to teachers in Yuma, Arizona. This multi-day event - April 16-19, 2008 - included sessions by Dr. Stephen Schellenberg of San Diego State University, JOIDES Resolution tool pusher Joe "Bubba" Attryde, and School of Rock '07 graduate Joe Monaco of Redlands East Valley High School in Redlands, California.

The newest poster and Web site by Deep Earth Academy has been selected as a finalist in the Association of Educational Publishers Distinguished Achievement Awards competition for this year. The poster and Web site are named "Sea90E" (for the ninety-degree east meridian) and feature the work of our 2007 Teacher at Sea on board the Sea90E site survey cruise in the Indian Ocean. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in June.

ACTION

Advocacy
Congress continues to consider and debate a variety of ocean and climate bills. Earlier this month the House of Representatives passed the National Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observing Act of 2007. The Act would create an integrated ocean observing system (IOOS) that will monitor and forecast ocean conditions, including the physical, biological and chemical components of coastal waters. This week the House Natural Resources Committee marked up a Sea Grant Reauthorization bill and the Oceans Conservation, Education and National Strategy for the 21st Century (OCEANS-21) Act. Earlier this month Bob Gagosian testified before the Committee on the Sea Grant Reauthorization measure. Bob also testified before the House Appropriations Committee regarding the NOAA, NSF and NASA budgets.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee has also approved several oceans bills that have passed the House including IOOS, Oceans and Coastal Exploration, Coral Reef Conservation, Coastal and Estuarine Land Protection and Hydrographic Services Improvement. Ocean Leadership is working to get these bills to the Senate floor in hopes that they can be signed into law this year.

Communications
Vanguard Communications and the External Affairs team at Ocean Leadership have received the prestigious Gold Quill Merit Award from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) for visual identity communications and branding efforts performed as part of the merger of CORE and JOI into Ocean Leadership.