The development and deployment of autonomous instrumentation in the aquatic sciences, which has rapidly expanded during the last decade, has led to fantastic new insight into unexplored waters, increased understanding of temporal and spatial dynamics, and amazing discoveries across the aquatic sciences. These tools have allowed us to acquire more data, at higher frequency in time and space, and at a lower cost.

Sensors deployed on gliders, autonomous underwater vehicles, and buoyed and float-based profilers have permitted near-real time, high-temporal and -spatial resolution observation of water physics (e.g., temperature, turbulence, currents, optics), chemistry (e.g., dissolved oxygen, pH, major and trace nutrients), and biology (e.g., plankton, environmental DNA, algal toxins). These technologies have led to unprecedented opportunities and understanding of numerous and complex properties of aquatic systems, including oceanic circulation patterns and interactions with the atmosphere, temporal, vertical and horizontal dynamics of plankton and associated biogeochemistry, and physical-chemical-biological interactions in both pelagic and benthic environments.

In this special issue, we welcome the submission of studies from all fields of oceanography and limnology, from physics to biology, which rely on the use of autonomous instrumentation and/or Big Data to make significant advancement in the understanding of key aquatic processes. Contributions may include studies at global to local scales with broad implications across the aquatic sciences and beyond. A Virtual Issue of previously published papers relevant to the topic will be bound and added to the journal website collections page (https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/topic/vi-categories-19395590/ac5e9f18-3c05-455f-be97-0c888618e6bc/19395590).

All contributions to this special issue must fit within the scope of L&O and will be assessed with the same level of rigor as regular journal contributions. Accepted papers will be published in Early View (online version of record before inclusion in an issue), with a permanent and citable DOI upon acceptance. The complete Special Issue will be bound for Fall 2024. For more information, manuscript proposal, or inquiries on the suitability of your work, please contact one of the Deputy Editors: Steeve Comeau, steeve.comeau@imev-mer.fr, Julia Mullarney, Julia.mullarney@waikato.ac.nz, and Elisa Schaum, elisa.schaum@uni-hamburg.de.

Special Issue Editors:

Yui Takeshita, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

Heidi Sosik, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Dominique Lefevre, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography

Werner Eckert, Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute

Kevin C. Rose, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute