Complex and incompletely understood chemical, biological and physical processes affect the delivery, transport, and storage of organic matter (OM) in the ocean. Atmospheric and climate-relevant gases, primarily carbon dioxide, are closely linked to the production and flux of organic matter within the ocean via the biological pump. Marine and continental OM is transformed in the water column, some is transported to the sediments where a fraction is stored over geological time, and some marine OM is released to the atmosphere. These functions are intimately linked to global nutrient cycles and ecosystem processes. Perhaps indicative of how the field has matured, the multidisciplinary nature of ocean carbon studies and the importance of biological processes in organic carbon cycling has resulted in a morphing of “marine organic geochemistry” into “marine organic biogeochemistry.” Marine organic biogeochemistry now provides a molecular-level window onto the functioning and scale of processes that control the behavior of OM in the ocean. New sampling tools, analytical methods, and data handling capabilities have been applied to marine chemistry since the 1970s; and in tandem with coordinated, international and interdisciplinary research programs, this has led to explosive growth of marine organic biogeochemistry
