For the last 2 decades, the Surface Ocean-Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS) has played a major role in facilitating global collaborative research on ocean-atmosphere interaction. Over this time, this interface has only become more important and relevant with climate change and increasing awareness of science-social dimensions relating to use of the oceans. This Special Feature is a collection of invited papers that assess the current state of air-sea exchange science, highlight critical future research directions, and identify emerging opportunities for new collaborations, technologies, and discoveries.

Of the total of twelve papers, four have already been published. These first four papers grapple with themes such as the impact of ocean geochemistry on atmospheric chemistry; shipping emissions and their impact on the surface ocean and lower atmosphere; polar oceans and sea ice in a changing climate; and nutrient flux changes to marine ecosystems.