Researchers and students representing BIOS gathered in San Diego, California, in mid-February to participate in the biennial Ocean Sciences meeting. The flagship conference, held jointly by the Oceanography Society, the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, and the American Geophysical Union, attracted nearly 5,000 scientists, managers, and educators from around the globe.

For decades, sea-going research vessels have been the backbone of observational oceanography, giving scientists mobile platforms to conduct a variety of open-ocean research for days, or even weeks, at a time. Oceanographic research continues to build off previous work and, at the same time, the scale of research questions has broadened. As a result, the desire for more frequent observations of the deep ocean has driven the development of new technologies to increase research capability and accessibility.