Previewing Ocean Sciences 2006, Honolulu

	Enlarge ImageThere is a really good reason to hold a major oceanography meeting in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and it has nothing to do with the latitude. Holding it in February does happen to be an agreeable piece of scheduling, however. Back in Woods Hole, snow blankets the Clark building. (Hugh Powell, WHOI)
	Related Links
	» 10,000 Earth & Ocean Scientists. Five Days. See what's in store for next week. Read archived daily reports from the AGU meeting last December. » Ocean Sciences 2006 - Abstract Database We'll be covering some of the talks we think are interesting. Use this database to find research you're interested in.

Welcome back! Last time you tuned in, we were being swarmed by deep-creeping earthquakes at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting in San Francisco, California. This time, we'll be reporting from the Ocean Sciences 2006 meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Just as the AGU meeting is the premier forum for geologists to talk about their research, its sister meeting, Ocean Sciences, holds the same kind of appeal for marine biologists, ecologists, chemists and physical oceanographers.

Four scientific societies join forces to hold Ocean Sciences each year: the American Geophysical Union, the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, the Oceanography Society and the Estuarine Research Federation. With nearly 5,000 registered participants and 3,500 presentations, Ocean Sciences is only slightly smaller than AGU, and not much less hectic.

Next week, more than 200 WHOI staff and graduate students will brave the balmy trade winds, drooping palm trees and misdirected laser pointers to present their research in Honolulu. Along with reporter David Fisichella, I’ll be on hand to file reports on some of the interesting stories.

Already, we’re excited to learn about the genetics of red tide, Legionnaire’s disease surviving in sea water, pollutant signatures of the Industrial Age, tracking whales with robotic gliders, a new camera that recognizes fish habitat, and microbes that eat nothing but rock.

It’s shaping up to be a busy week. When will I find time to go snorkeling?