Oceanography | September 2020
Reflections
Reflections
This September 2020 Oceanography doesn’t have a special issue
section, but if I had to provide a title for the issue, it would be
“Reflections.” Subjects the articles and commentaries ask us to
reflect on include racism and gender bias in the ocean sciences,
the benefits and pitfalls of conducting conferences virtually, les-
sons learned while developing broader impact activities, and the
optical oceanography legacy of Angelo Secchi, among others.
Some of the topics addressed here may take us out of our
comfort zones. Hardy and Rozwadowski reexamine the legacy
of nineteenth-century naval officer and early ocean scientist
Matthew Fontaine Maury. While Maury did not own slaves, his
actions supported the institution of slavery. Our authors pose the
question, what should ocean scientists “do with this new found
awakening to Maury’s dual admirable and reprehensible lega-
cies?” Applying contemporary standards to centuries-old conduct
is a challenging exercise, but we need to take the time to reflect on
how we teach about such historical figures as we simultaneously
develop strategies to increase diversity in the geosciences.
Glüder’s commentary addresses gender bias by examining an
extremely tangible example: why don’t many research vessels have
an adequate supply of survival equipment in smaller sizes suit-
able for women—and also for men who do not fit the “50th per-
centile North American male” physique. The issue here concerns
not only survival in frigid ocean waters but also the feeling of not
belonging caused by the lack of proper safety equipment.
The inclusion of “broader impact” activities is a requirement
for many science proposals submitted to US federal agencies.
Orellana et al. describe how they developed successful high
school ocean science curriculum modules and leveraged several
grants to retain continuity of the project. They also reflect on the
solutions that enabled the success of their broader impacts proj-
ect and share those lessons learned.
Thrust into this COVID world of relative isolation, conferences
have had to test the waters of the virtual world. Power et al. share
their experiences conducting a Young Coastal Scientists and
Engineers Conference online. They reflect on the numerous pos-
itive outcomes of holding a virtual conference, some unexpected,
and note that even when in-person conferences are again possi-
ble, they will likely always incorporate some online component.
The hands-on oceanography activity, “Sound and the Seafloor,”
by Levine et al. introduces students to the concept of acous-
tic reflection (sorry) by having them build their own simplified
echosounders, deploy their instruments to map a transect, and
use the data to explore sampling resolution. The article does have
a section called Reflection (really) in which the authors suggest
questions that can stimulate students to consider the implications
of their observations and the sources of variability.
Pitarch illuminates the optical oceanographic legacy of
Angelo Secchi, the nineteenth century Italian astrophysicist
widely known for the reflective (sorry again) white disk that
bears his name. In this article, Pitarch calls attention to a mostly
ignored 1865 cruise report in which Secchi addresses such ques-
tions as “how the angle of the sun, the disk’s color and direc-
tional reflectance, the disk’s diameter, the ship’s shadow, and
cloudiness influence the transparency measurements.”
In her Revelle Lecture article, Rochman tells the story the his-
tory of research surrounding plastic pollution in the ocean. She
reflects on how a little more than a dozen years ago, the words
plastic and pollution were not yet linked as an environmental
issue, but today plastic pollution has become a global policy
issue with research going in many new directions.
Other articles in this issue describe new and exciting ocean
science and engineering areas and take look at an important
topic of study that has been largely neglected. In their Breaking
Waves article, Saad et al. demonstrate how it is possible to inte-
grate artificial intelligence methods into an autonomous under-
water vehicle to accelerate the analysis of the spatiotemporal dis-
tribution of microorganisms in the ocean. In their Regular Issue
Feature, Garwood et al. use idealized numerical simulations to
show the importance of accounting for horizontal motions in
internal waves when studying coastal ecosystems.
If I may provide a couple of other important reflections from
this September issue: I am particularly pleased and proud to see
the number of graduate students and early career scientists who
are first authors (Garwood, Glüder, Levine, Saad) or coauthors
(in Levine et al., Power et al., Saad et al.) of articles. I am also
very encouraged that women are first authors (Garwood, Glüder,
Hardy, Orellana, Power, Rochman, Saad) on seven of the nine
articles—perhaps a counterbalance to some of the data coming
out that indicates women are publishing less during COVID.
One final reflection. While Oceanography has “grown up”
considerably since it was first published in 1988, this September
issue also displays how we have remained true to our roots.
As the first Oceanography editor David A. Brooks wrote in
the inaugural magazine issue, “the guiding principle and edi-
torial policy of Oceanography Magazine will remain steadfast
and inviolate: we intend to serve, promote, and chronicle all
aspects of ocean science and its applications, and we invite you
to join in the adventure.”
Ellen S. Kappel, Editor
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