There has been a growing recognition of the central role played by ocean–atmosphere biogeochemical coupling in the area of global climate and environmental change. Examples of some of the major scientific issues being addressed in this area include the effect on climate of marine sulphur emissions; the stimulation by atmospherically derived iron of diatom and other phytoplankton growth, and possibly nitrogen fixation in certain regions of the ocean; the changing amounts and patterns of atmospheric anthropogenic nitrogen deposition to both coastal and open ocean regions and its influence on marine biota; the effects of these potential marine biological changes on the air–sea exchange of such climate-relevant gases as halogenated hydrocarbons and other light hydrocarbons; the impacts of changes in marine biogeochemistry on the oceanic uptake of anthropogenic CO2 and the effects of the resulting lower seawater pH on marine biogeochemical processes. To address these and other related issues a new international research programme has recently been initiated—the Surface Ocean—Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS), which has as its primary goal: