A BONGO NET WAS USED TO FILTER WATER SAMPLES AND CATCH SOLID OBJECTS ON A MESH SCREEN. IMAGE CREDIT: GIUSEPPE SUARIA

Oceans, which once played cradle to life on Earth, are now facing a massive decline in health. 2021 kicks off the UN Decade of Ocean Sciences which aims to improve awareness and quality of Ocean observation, and to use the Oceans sustainably for human development. Image credit: "Life in Ocean" by guschen802 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Earthzine produces seasonal themed issues each year. Themed issues are edited by Editors who are experts in the particular topic being featured. Below, find our current, previous and future theme issues and associated articles.

2021 Theme

The UN Decade of Ocean Sciences
The United Nations has proclaimed a Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), also referred to as Ocean Decade, to gather stakeholders worldwide behind a common framework to ensure science can support countries for sustainable development of the Ocean. Oceans, which once played cradle to life on Earth, are now facing a massive decline in health.The focus is on using science to answer the existentially important question: Is there a way to reverse the decline in Ocean health and to continue to rely on the Ocean for our needs, particularly under the changing climate ? This theme invites authors to contribute articles related to the Ocean Decade activities, which kick off in January 2021. Archive of the coverage of articles under this theme can be found here.

Interested authors can contribute coverage of Decade events, such as the virtual webinar series as part of the kick-off.

2021 Monthly Focus


January: IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society Highlights
February: Marine Technology for disaster preparedness, prevention, mitigation
March: GEO
April: Earth Day
May: Great Lakes
June: Ocean Decade kickoff


July: Mentorship
August: Algal Blooms
September: Global OCEANS 2021 Porto/San Diego
October: Arctic Oceans
November: Women in STEM
December: Essays on Hope

Previous Themes

2017 Themes

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2016 Themes

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