Special issue information:

Emerging ocean technologies, including AI, satellite remote sensing, digital twins, and spatial computing, are reshaping how we monitor, model, and manage the ocean–climate nexus. This Special Issue probes governance gaps and solutions. It tests how international law and marine policy can keep pace across levels. We welcome analyses of space‑based data governance, operator licensing and supervision, and open versus commercial data arrangements. We also seek work on privacy in coastal monitoring and equitable access for developing and small island states. To ground the theme, we encourage applied studies on blue‑carbon MRV and carbon sequestration, fisheries monitoring and compliance, microplastics tracking and control, and sea‑level‑rise planning with coastal digital twins. We invite contributions on UNFCCC/Paris transparency and the global stocktake, including lawful use of AI‑ and EO‑derived ocean data.

This Special Issue focuses on the governance and legal implications of emerging ocean technologies and data-intensive approaches in ocean and climate policy. It brings together contributions examining how these tools support monitoring, decision-making, regulation, and international cooperation, and how governance and legal frameworks are adapting across scales.

■ AI and Earth ObservationThis theme addresses the use of AI-enabled and Earth-observation data in marine governance. Topics include detection and forecasting of indicators of marine heatwaves, ocean acidification, carbon fluxes, habitat change, and sea-level-rise exposure, as well as data quality and provenance standards and the use of digital evidence in policy and litigation. Contributions may also examine blue-carbon MRV and sequestration assessment, shifts in fishing effort and stock distribution, and detection and source apportionment of marine microplastics.

■ Spatial Computing and Digital TwinsThis theme focuses on spatial computing and digital twins for marine spatial planning, coastal resilience, and nature-based solutions, including governance of model validation, transparency, and accountability. Applications may address coastal adaptation under sea-level rise, site selection and monitoring for blue-carbon projects, and dynamic fisheries closures and bycatch-reduction strategies.

■ Space-Based Data GovernanceContributions may examine governance arrangements for space-based ocean data, including operator licensing and supervision, spectrum and orbital coordination, and open versus commercial data provision, as well as metadata and provenance standards, privacy in coastal monitoring, and equitable access to data and analytical capacity for developing countries and small island developing states.

■ International Legal Frameworks
This theme invites analyses of how UNCLOS, the BBNJ Agreement, regional seas arrangements, and national law are responding to increased use of AI-enabled and remote monitoring tools for compliance, enforcement, and cross-border coordination, including blue-carbon rights and tenure, registry integrity, and RFMO compliance supported by data-driven approaches.

■ UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement
This theme examines implications of emerging ocean data and analytical tools for the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, including the enhanced transparency framework, the global stocktake, and Article 6 MRV, as well as lawful use of AI- and Earth-observation-derived ocean data, blue-carbon accounting, and treatment of ocean-based removals and safeguards.

■ Autonomous and Data-Intensive Systems
Submissions are welcome on governance challenges related to autonomous and data-intensive maritime systems, including safety, liability, and technical standards for vessels, platforms, and sensors, assurance, audit, and certification for climate-aligned maritime operations, electronic fisheries monitoring, and platforms for marine microplastics surveillance.

来源：https://www.sciencedirect.com/special-issue/329275/governing-emerging-ocean-technologies-for-climate-action-marine-policy-and-international-regulation-in-the-age-of-ai-and-spatial-computing