The Ocean Sciences Meeting 2026 has its own tartan, which has been registered with the Scottish Register of Tartans. The design of this tartan – based on the well-known Thomson Tartan – contains the colours from the logos of the three partner societies – TOS, ASLO, and AGU. The deep ocean is represented by the darkest blue, gradually lightening into the photic zone, ringed by the white of breaking waves — a surf that links all the oceans of the world. The green is for the Earth and the red is for the Sun and the ecosystem of which it is the centre. The broader green band has 23 threads, the adjacent blue has 12, and in the large blue centrepiece, the small dark blue has 18 and the broader adjacent blue 72, weaving into the tartan the HMS challenger launch date.

The Challenger Expedition, launched from Portsmouth on 23 December 1872, was considered the first ever global ocean-going expedition. While the many discoveries of HMS Challenger on its 69,000 nautical mile voyage laid the foundations of oceanography, we acknowledge the need for a more inclusive history of ocean science and the geopolitical and cultural context of the time at which the voyage took place. Today’s ocean sciences community honors the past while also proactively embracing and advocating for a more inclusive science future.