National Ocean Sciences Bowl

The National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB), often referred to as "Ocean Science Bowl" or "Ocean Bowl," is a quizbowl-like competition run by the Consortium for Ocean Leadership.

Game Format

The NOSB format is similar to that of Science Bowl, though with several notable exceptions:

• Each round consists of two worksheets ("Team Challenge Questions" or "TCQs") on which team members can cooperate, followed by two timed, quiz bowl-style buzzer halves of 6 minutes each. Some regionals may instead administer the worksheets between the two buzzer halves.
• Each worksheet/TCQ is scored out of 20 points. TCQs are typically graded during the first buzzer half, and TCQ scores are revealed at halftime.
• Most of the points in a typical match are scored during the two buzzer halves. A correctly answered tossup is worth 4 points, an incorrectly interrupted tossup (neg) is worth -4 points, and a correctly answered bonus is worth 6 points.
• All tossups are multiple choice and all bonuses are short answer. Despite this, moderators will still say "Tossup—Multiple Choice" or "Bonus—Short Answer" before each question.
• Unlike in Science Bowl, multiple-choice answers do not always need to exactly match the wording of the answer choice. Adding an article (e.g. "The Pacific Ocean" for "Pacific Ocean") is acceptable; however, any other modification (e.g. "Octopuses" for "Octopus") is still counted as wrong.
• Verbal recognition is required on tossups; "blurting" will disqualify one's team from answering the question, though there is no point penalty (unlike in Science Bowl).
• Unlike in Science Bowl or NAQT, the moderator must stop reading a tossup once the clock runs out if no team has buzzed in yet. However, the clock-killing neg is counterproductive as the tossup must be reread in its entirety after a team negs, regardless of the clock.
• Math computation seems to be absent from tossups and bonuses, appearing only in TCQs.

Question Topics

NOSB questions tend to be themed around—you guessed it—the oceans. Topics include:

• marine biology
• physical oceanography
• seawater chemistry
• technology used in oceanography
• ocean geography
• marine policy (both U.S. and international)
• ocean history (usually explorers)
• (rarely) ocean-themed literature

Competition Results

Year	Champion	Second	Third	Fourth
2021*	Dougherty Valley	Lexington	Canyon Crest	Santa Monica
2020*	Ladue	Santa Monica	Dougherty Valley	Centerville
2019	Albany	Santa Monica	Ladue	Centerville
2018	Montgomery Blair	Santa Monica	Marshfield	Albany
2017	Santa Monica	Marshfield	NCSSM	Centerville
2016	Albany	Marshfield	Santa Monica	Liberty Common
2015	Boise	Dexter	Marshfield	Mission San Jose
2014	Boise	Arcadia	Juneau-Douglas	Bishop Sullivan Catholic
2013	Arcadia	Lexington (MA)	Juneau-Douglas	Neah-Kah-Nie
2012	Marshfield	Raleigh Charter	Eastside (NJ)	Lexington (MA)
2011	Marshfield	Lexington (MA)	Santa Monica	Mt. Sinai

* The 2020 and 2021 competitions were held online in a modified format.

External Links

• NOSB website
• Wikipedia page