The Oceanography Society has selected Dr. Zhongping Lee of Xiamen University as the recipient of the 2026 Nils Gunnar Jerlov Medal, recognizing his transformative contributions to understanding how light interacts with the ocean, as well as his sustained leadership in education, interdisciplinary research, and collaborative work with meaningful societal impact. Dr. Lee will be recognized at The Oceanography Society Honors Breakfast, February 24, 2026, during the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, as well as during the Ocean Optics XXVII Conference in Ghent, Belgium, in September 2026.

Clouds, smoke and fog may darken the skies, but sediment, algae blooms and organic matter can turn day into night on the seafloor. That’s why an international team of scientists have created the first framework to identify and compare these marine blackouts. The study, published in Communications Earth & Environment, introduces the concept of a marine darkwave: a short-term but intense episode of underwater darkness that can severely impact kelp forests, seagrass beds and other light-dependent marine life.

A new study reveals that ozone transported from the upper atmosphere is a widespread and previously underrecognized source of surface ozone across China. By developing a novel identification method via ranking ground observational ozone concentrations, researchers show that these events substantially elevate surface ozone levels, intensify wintertime atmospheric oxidation capacity, and accelerate sulfate and secondary organic aerosol formation.

This review highlights how water-related optical imaging technologies overcome extreme low-light and high-pressure challenges in deep-sea environments, enabling high-resolution vision from surface waters to the Mariana Trench. It explores advanced methods like polarized imaging, single-photon detection, and AI-driven image restoration, offering new tools for ecological monitoring, resource mapping, and autonomous navigation in Earth’s final frontiers.