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 largely identical to that of Science Bowl, though there are several notable exceptions.
- Each round consists of two 6-minute halves, along with two written test questions ("Team Challenge Questions") administered prior to the two buzzer halves. However, some regionals may administer the test questions between the two halves.
- All tossups are multiple-choice, and all bonuses are short-answer.
- A correctly answered tossup is worth 4 points, an incorrectly interrupt tossup (neg) is worth -4 points, and a correctly answered bonus is worth 6 points.
- Unlike in Science Bowl, multiple-choice answers do not need to exactly match the wording of the answer choice; adding an article (e.g. "The Pacific Ocean" for "Pacific Ocean") is acceptable, though other modifications (e.g. "Octopuses" for "Octopus") are 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 Science Bowl).
- Math computation appears to be absent outside of written test questions.
Full competition rules can be found here.
Question Topics
NOSB questions tend to be themed around—you guessed it—the oceans. Topics include:
- marine biology
- physical oceanography
- seawater chemistry
- technology/instruments used to study the oceans
- ocean geography/bathymetry
- marine law (both U.S. and international)
- ocean history (usually explorers)
- (rarely) ocean-themed literature
Competition Results
| Year | Champion | Second | Third | Fourth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 competition was held online in a modified format.