SOLAS 3.0: 2026–2035 Science Plan and Organisation
SOLAS is a global organisation facilitating integrated ocean-atmosphere research across disciplinary and national boundaries, bringing together an international community to advance understanding of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system and its role in a changing climate and environment.
The SOLAS 3.0 Science Plan provides the framework for international SOLAS research and activities for 2026-2035, under the sponsorship of SCOR, Future Earth, WCRP, and iCACGP. Building on more than two decades of interdisciplinary collaboration, SOLAS 3.0 combines discovery science with science towards solutions and the development of a diverse, connected, and skilled scientific community.
Understanding ocean-atmosphere interactions is essential for assessing how the Earth system responds to environmental change and how potential climate and environmental responses may affect the ocean, atmosphere, and society. SOLAS aims to provide the scientific knowledge and evidence needed to evaluate these processes, options, and consequences, supporting informed decision-making rather than advocating any particular response or solution.
Core Themes
The SOLAS science mission is organised around three core components:
Discover Science:
Air-sea exchange and cycling of greenhouse gases
Aerosol source-to-sink dynamics and marine impacts
Impacts of ocean biogeochemistry on atmospheric chemistry and clouds
Ocean sea ice snow atmosphere interactions
Weather and climate
Science Towards Solutions:
Marine carbon dioxide removal
Marine solar radiation management
Marine renewable energy
Solutions to other environmental problems within the SOLAS realm
Scientific Community and Skill Development:
Scientific synergy, collaboration and communication
Early career training and integration
Skill enhancement through tool and resource accessibility
Science advocacy, public engagement and policy outreach
SOLAS 2015-2025 Science Plan and Organisation
The 2015-2025 SOLAS Science Plan and Organisation guided the continued development of international SOLAS for the period 2015-2025, under the sponsorship of SCOR, Future Earth, WCRP, and iCACGP. The SOLAS science plan focuses on five core themes (see below) that have been developed by the SOLAS community.
Core Themes
The SOLAS science mission is organised around five core themes:
Core Theme 1: Greenhouse gases and the oceans
Core Theme 2: Air-sea interface and fluxes of mass and energy
Core Theme 3: Atmospheric deposition and ocean biogeochemistry
Core Theme 4: Interconnections between marine ecosystems, aerosols, and clouds
Core Theme 5: Ocean biogeochemical control on atmospheric chemistry
In addition, the study of the five core themes will be integrated in efforts to understand key environments, such as upwelling systems, polar oceans, and the Indian Ocean, as well as to evaluate the environmental efficacy and impacts of climate intervention proposals, policy decisions, and societal developments.
SOLAS 2004-2014 Science Plan and Implementation Strategy
The 2004-2014 SOLAS Science Plan and Implementation Strategy formed the basis on which the project was being built and was developed to start the operation of international SOLAS for the period 2004-2014 under the sponsorship of IGBP, SCOR, WCRP, and iCACGP.
The Plan deals with the following issues or Foci. Each Focus is divided into several Activities.
- Focus 1: Biogeochemical Interactions and Feedbacks Between Ocean and Atmosphere
- Focus 2: Exchange Processes at the Air-Sea Interface and the Role of Transport and Transformation in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Boundary Layers
- Focus 3: Air-Sea Flux of CO₂ and Other Long-Lived Radiatively Active Gases
Sponsors
Funders
