About IOCCP

It all started with providing advice on Ocean CO₂ Observations… 

As early as 1979, the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognized the importance of the ocean’s role in global climate change and formed the first Committee on Climate Change and the Ocean (CCCO) which, in 1984, established a CO₂ Advisory Panel, to provide international coordination for ocean carbon and biogeochemical measurements. The Panel called for a carbon observation program and sampling strategy that could determine the global oceanic CO₂ inventory to an accuracy of 10-20 petagrams of carbon (Pg C), which was at least twice as accurate as the best estimates at the time.

In 1987, SCOR and the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU, now the International Science Council) gathered the leading experts on ocean carbon cycle science for a meeting in Paris to agree on the goals, scientific elements, and organizational structure for an internationally coordinated research project known as the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS). Meeting participants recognized that understanding the ocean carbon cycle would be central to JGOFS and that global oceanic CO₂ measurements would be critical to that understanding. At the same time, the international physical oceanographic community was also organizing the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE). The intersection of the WOCE and JGOFS projects was an opportunity for a comprehensive global survey of ocean carbon distributions that could accomplish the CO₂ inventory goal set by the CCCO CO2 Advisory Panel. In September 1988, the Joint SCOR-JGOFS-CCCO Advisory Panel on Ocean CO₂ was created to provide the primary focal point for international planning and commitments for implementing the carbon observations. The Panel facilitated the standardization of analyses by helping to organize instrument comparison exercises and establishing internationally agreed standard protocols. By January 1994, the Panel had helped produce the protocols for the JGOFS core measurements and the CO₂ Methods Handbook which included the use of newly developed Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) for the inorganic carbon measurements.

With the completion of the JGOFS/WOCE field components in the late 1990s and the emergence of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), the CO₂ Advisory Panel was restructured as the Joint SCOR-IOC Advisory Panel on Ocean CO₂, with a focus on developing recommendations for an ocean carbon observing system, including data management and synthesis activities, and on providing scientific and technical advice on ocean carbon sequestration. This new Panel met for the first time in 2000 and laid the foundations for establishing a global ocean carbon observation system. Although the number of research cruises decreased dramatically at the end of the JGOFS/WOCE program, the number of surface CO₂ observations continued to increase. Part of the reason was because of the increasing number of underway CO₂ systems deployed on research vessels and commercial Ships of Opportunity (SOOP). The SCOR-IOC Advisory Panel on Ocean CO₂ was able to help facilitate the growth of SOOP carbon observations through sponsorship of pCO₂ system comparison exercises and its IOC connection to the developing GOOS, which was also outfitting commercial ships with physical oceanographic equipment. The surface pCO₂ database had grown from approximately 250,000 measurements in 1997 (30 years’ of observations) to more than 940,000 in 2002. As part of the JGOFS/WOCE synthesis phase, the SCOR-IOC Advisory Panel on Ocean CO₂ coordinated the collection and quality control of the publicly available survey data through the Global Ocean Data Analysis Project (GLODAP). Complimentary efforts were started through CARINA and PICES, to gather and archive data sets that were not publicly available so they would not be lost to the community. In 2004, this newly developed GLODAP synthesized dataset together with the revised calculation technique allowed the community to estimate that the total accumulation of anthropogenic CO₂ in the ocean between 1800 and 1994 was 118 +/- 19 Pg C, just within the uncertainty goals set by the original SCOR-IOC-CCCO CO₂ Advisory Panel 20 years earlier.

…until the need for Global Coordination of Marine Carbon and Biogeochemistry arose….

In the early 2000s, the existing model of coordination of ocean carbon science activities by a small advisory panel that made recommendations was no longer able to meet the needs of the community. With this incentive, the SCOR-IOC Advisory Panel on Ocean CO₂ joined with the newly formed Global Carbon Project (GCP) to develop a pilot project called the International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP). A new approach to international coordination, focused on implementing coordination actions rather than simply providing scientific and technical advice, was developed with funding from the sponsor organizations for secretariat support for the project as well as for implementing of its activities. The IOCCP continued to coordinate a highly diverse set of activities to facilitate the development of globally acceptable strategies, methodologies, practices and standards, homogenizing efforts of the research community and scientific advisory groups as well as integrating ocean carbon programs and activities into globally integrated Earth system observing networks. After two international stakeholders’ meetings, the IOCCP was recognized as a successful model for global-scale coordination and was requested to expand its mandate to include communication and coordination services for the full range of ocean carbon variables (not only CO₂) and to assist the global, regional, and national research programs, as requested, with coordination of research activities (not just large-scale observations). In 2005, IOC and SCOR agreed to make the IOCCP a standing project, replacing the CO₂ Panel, with new terms of reference approved by the SCOR Executive Council and the 23rd Session of the IOC Assembly.

In September 2009 more than 600 scientists from 36 nations met in Venice, Italy o build a common vision for the provision of routine and sustained global information on the marine environment sufficient to meet society’s needs. A key recommendation based on 99 Community White Papers and 47 Plenary Papers was for international integration and coordination of interdisciplinary ocean observations. The Conference was sponsored by many international and national ocean agencies, and attended by representatives of ocean observation programs worldwide. Based on impressive agreement among the many groups at the Conference and their strong desire to work collectively, the sponsors commissioned a Task Team to develop an Integrated Framework for Sustained Ocean Observing (hereafter referred to as the FOO).

The FOO structure is such that the three Ocean Observing System Panels (Physics, Biology/Ecosystem and Carbon/Biogeochemistry) establish a set of Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) which would then be promoted as fundamental measurements needed to address the current scientific and societal ocean/climate-related issues and enable funding of the interdisciplinary, integrated global ocean observing system. Each panel has a leader organization, which is tasked to consult the community and create a consortium of relevant and interested partners, helping to justify and negotiate the inclusion of certain parameters in the list of GOOS EOVs. The IOCCP was asked by the Task Team to lead the Biogeochemistry Panel very early on in the Framework drafting process. The IOCCP SSG replied positively, requesting additional staff and activities support allowing to implement related activities. In order to play its role in the FOO, the IOCCP agreed to expand its scope and composition in order to take on coordination tasks for a wider range of biogeochemical parameters beyond inorganic carbon (designing, implementation and coordination of a large-scale observing system of networks), starting with oxygen and nutrients, which is gradually followed by further incorporation of disciplinary expertise into the Panel.

To kick-start implementing the FOO recommendations, in November 2013 the GOOS Panels organized a technical experts workshop in Townsville, Australia, with IOCCP aiming at identification of major scientific and societal challenges that require sustained observations of ocean biogeochemistry variables, identification of candidate biogeochemical EOVs, and defining the state of readiness of set requirements, existing observing system elements and existing data streams for all proposed EOVs on the various frequency and resolution levels. The resulting set of GOOS Biogeochemistry EOVs including their technical specification can be found here and as a designated custodian organization we since develop a significant proportion of our coordination activities to increase the community’s readiness to include those EOVs into their national, regional and eventually global observing system in sync with physics and biology/ecosystem communities.

…and we respond to ever-changing Science Challenges to meet that need…

The IOCCP, with its activities evolving to meet new challenges as the science progresses continues to coordinate a highly diverse set of ocean carbon and biogeochemistry activities (Themes), through extensive collaboration and technical dialogue with the scientific community at regional and global level. Current set of Themes is a mix of topical efforts (like Surface Ocean Biogeochemistry Observations, Ocean Acidification or Technical Training) and EOV-focused efforts (like Oxygen, Nutrients or Nitrous Oxide) and represents the juxtaposition of the needs communicated by the scientific community and our capacity to provide meaningful and effective coordination and communication services across the whole portfolio.

The IOCCP SSG Experts consult with the community relevant for their role on the Panel and act as communication and coordination hubs between the community leaders and numerous research, observation and coordination partners in order to synchronize efforts and assure effectiveness and efficiency. We list some of the closest partners on our website, but the list can never be exhaustive as it is very dynamic reflecting the very nature of the field we serve. 

As GOOS Biogeochemistry Panel we also work to integrate the ocean carbon and biogeochemistry information into the high level agendas such as the Global Climate Observing System Implementation Plan, the Global Greenhouse Gas Watch Implementation Plan, the Global Carbon Budget, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other international and intergovernmental strategies.