OSSD: Ocean (Sailor) Sampling Day 2014

Any chance you'll be sailing in the icy reaches of the North Atlantic on Summer Sailstice 2014?  Or Chesapeake Bay? Or the Marshall Islands?  Or anywhere on the salty waters of this globe? The photo shows test samples at Palmer Station, Antartica on the Southern hemisphere summer solstice of 2013 and scientists are looking for similar ocean samples on the summer solstice in June 2014.

A global body of ocean biologists is reaching out to the sailing community to enlist sailing citizen scientists who would like to help provide data for the Ocean Sampling Day project which will take place on Summer Sailstice, June 21, 2014!  Enjoyment of the ocean combined with concern for the ocean compels us to support this project. 

The project will  establish a baseline of data, all collected on the same day, from multiple points across the oceans.  Sailors can help by acquiring test kits, collecting data and transmitting the information with a smart phone app to the OSD project.  As they describe the project: Ocean Sampling Day is a project of the Micro B3 consortium, an EU funded project working at the intersection of marine microbial biodiversity, bioinformatics and biotechnology. Also see http://www.oceansamplingday.org.  It can sound pretty technical but, as we've tuned into their communications, we've begun to learn a bit and are interested in learning more.  You can too.  Or, maybe you are a marine biologist sailor who can help us all contribute and learn more?  Either way, we're encouraging interested salt water sailors ('fraid this won't work on fresh water bodies of water)to connect with the OSD project and make your contribution to ocean science.

For more information visit

Summer Sailstice 2014