Underwater photos show seabirds, seals and fish interacting with a tidal turbine in Washington State

The Oceanography Society (TOS) is pleased to announce that Lisa Rom has been selected as a Fellow of The Oceanography Society. Established in 2004, the TOS Fellows Program honors members whose careers exemplify scientific excellence, strategic development of the field, and a deep commitment to educating and mentoring the next generation of ocean scientists. Lisa Rom’s long career at the National Science Foundation (NSF) aligns squarely with these goals, with national-scale impacts that have reshaped ocean science education, broadened participation in the ocean sciences, and strengthened connections between research and society.

The Oceanography Society (TOS) has named Professor Dr. Oliver Zielinski a Fellow of the Society, recognizing his outstanding and sustained contributions to oceanography through scientific innovation, leadership, education, and service. The TOS Fellows Program honors members whose careers have significantly advanced understanding and stewardship of the ocean while strengthening the global oceanographic community. Dr. Zielinski will be recognized at The Oceanography Society Honors Breakfast, February 24, 2026, during the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland.

Professor Chuanmin Hu, of the University of South Florida College of Marine Science’s Optical Oceanography Laboratory, has been elected a Fellow of The Oceanography Society (TOS), one of the Society’s highest honors, recognizing outstanding and sustained contributions to the field of oceanography through scientific excellence, leadership, service, and commitment to education and public engagement. Dr. Hu will be recognized at The Oceanography Society Honors Breakfast, February 24, 2026, during the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland.

A new study published in Nature finds human-driven land sinking now outpaces sea-level rise in many of the world’s major delta systems, threatening more than 236 million people.

Deborah S. Kelley, Professor in the School of Oceanography at the University of Washington, has been awarded the Wallace S. Broecker Medal by The Oceanography Society. This honor recognizes her innovative and impactful contributions to marine geoscience and chemical oceanography, her leadership in interdisciplinary and collaborative research, and her sustained commitment to education and mentorship.

The Oceanography Society has selected Dr. Zhongping Lee of Xiamen University as the recipient of the 2026 Nils Gunnar Jerlov Medal, recognizing his transformative contributions to understanding how light interacts with the ocean, as well as his sustained leadership in education, interdisciplinary research, and collaborative work with meaningful societal impact. Dr. Lee will be recognized at The Oceanography Society Honors Breakfast, February 24, 2026, during the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, as well as during the Ocean Optics XXVII Conference in Ghent, Belgium, in September 2026.

Clouds, smoke and fog may darken the skies, but sediment, algae blooms and organic matter can turn day into night on the seafloor. That’s why an international team of scientists have created the first framework to identify and compare these marine blackouts. The study, published in Communications Earth & Environment, introduces the concept of a marine darkwave: a short-term but intense episode of underwater darkness that can severely impact kelp forests, seagrass beds and other light-dependent marine life.

A joint study by Tel Aviv University and the University of Haifa set out to solve a scientific mystery: how a soft coral is able to perform the rhythmic, pulsating movements of its tentacles without a central nervous system. The study’s findings are striking, and may even change the way we understand movement in the animal kingdom in general, and in the corals studied in particular.