IOCCP-Activities: Framework for Ocean Observing

This important, forward-looking paper led by Karina Von Schuckman is a first major milestone towards a robust, multidisciplinary, evidence-based ocean indicators framework. Development of three out of nine proposed pilot indicators was led by IOCCP’s experts Veronique Garcon, Adrienne Sutton and Maciej Telszewski. Our role as the GOOS Biogeochemistry Panel more often than not is played by filling the science-policy nexus and this work is a prime example of how ocean knowledge should be used to shape policies.

In our continuous efforts to optimise and operationalise ocean carbon observations we would like to invite you to attend the UN Ocean Decade Conference 2025 off-site side event From Science to Solutions: Advancing the Ocean Carbon System for Climate Action hosted by ICOS, JPI Oceans & Ocean Frontier Institute with support from GEOMAR, NOC, Ifremer, NORCE, and IOPAN.

We are excited to announce that the Oostende Declaration in which the 100+ ocean experts and stakeholders call for concerted international and intergovernmental efforts to create a robust, resilient and sustainable surface ocean carbon observing system has been officially recognized as a commitment at the UN Ocean Conference 2025.

We are thrilled to let you know that the Global Greenhouse Gas Watch (G3W) Implementation Plan has been endorsed!

Thanks to the excellent work of the Joint Study Group on WMO Greenhouse Gas Monitoring (SG-GHG), the G3W Implementation Plan has been approved by INFCOM-3 (the WMO Technical Commission for Infrastructure) in April 2024, and by EC-78 (the Executive Council of WMO) in June 2024. We all owe a big Thank You to Adrienne Sutton (IOCCP SSG, NOAA, US) and Richard Sanders (IOCCP SSG, NORCE, Norway) for leading the writing of the Implementation Plan for the surface ocean CO2 (SOCONET and SOCAT). Other (SOCONET & SOCAT) contributors to the IP are Dorothee Bakker, Kevin O’Brien, Thanos Gkritzalis, Tobias Steinhoff, Bronte Tilbrook, Ronnie Noonan-Birch and Maciej Telszewski.

We would like to share with you the Oostende Declaration in which the 100+ ocean experts and stakeholders call for concerted international and intergovernmental efforts to create a robust, resilient and sustainable surface ocean carbon observing system.

The text of the declaration is available here: Declaration on Operationalising the Surface Ocean Carbon Value Chain

We are happy to share with you that the new GOOS Ocean Observing System Report Card has just been released with a dedicated section on ocean carbon observing! The Report Card was prepared in collaboration with GOOS partners and experts, including from IOCCP, and produced by its operational centre OceanOPS.

The high-level annual report provides a deep insight on the state, capacity and value of our Global Ocean Observing System. In 2022, it focuses on how an integrated observing network adds value to society across the three GOOS delivery areas of climate, operational services and ocean health. The Report highlights physical, biogeochemical and, for the first time, biological observations, providing a global view of the state of the GOOS, identifying the latest observing networks’ progress, the key challenges and opportunities to enhance the system. It also includes a dedicated section on the status and value of ocean carbon observations available from ship-based, autonomous and other platforms, highlighting the value of SOCAT and GLODAP data synthesis community efforts.

Access the Report Card here: https://www.ocean-ops.org/reportcard/

We are happy to let you know that the Ocean Observing System Report Card for 2021 was released in July by the GOOS Observations Coordination Group. Each year this Report provides a key insight into the status of the Global Ocean Observing System, assessing observing networks’ progress, focusing on what is needed to meet the challenges and demands for ocean information, and encouraging collaborations and new partners to join the ocean observing community.

The 2021 Report features several key areas including a section on the status and value of monitoring ocean oxygen and deoxygenation to which IOCCP and the Global Ocean Oxygen Network (GO₂NE) among others have contributed. The 2021 Report Card can be viewed online or downloaded as PDF from www.ocean-ops.org/reportcard2021

We are excited to announce that IOC-UNESCO has just published the "Integrated Ocean Carbon Research: A Summary of Ocean Carbon Knowledge and a Vision for Coordinated Ocean Carbon Research and Observations for the Next Decade", a report which sets out to accomplish the vital task of indicating the current gaps and future directions for the integrated ocean carbon cycle research. 

IOCCP was one of the five international research and coordination programmes on ocean-climate interaction, which have been working together since 2018 in the IOC Working Group on Integrated Ocean Carbon Research (IOC-R). The other organizations are: the Integrated Marine Biosphere Research Project (IMBeR), the Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS), the Climate and Ocean Variability, Predictability and Change (CLIVAR) project and the Global Carbon Project (GCP).

We would like to let you know that the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) Observations Coordination Group has launched a new Ocean Observing System Report Card and introduced the rebranding of OceanOPS (previously JCOMMOPS) along with its first-ever 5-year Strategic Plan (2021-2025), phased with the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development ("Ocean Decade"). The 2020 Ocean Observing System Report Card provides an update on the status of GOOS, including the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on ocean observations, the advances in observing measurements and initiatives, and the connection with vital services resulting from the observations. 

You can read the full announcement on the GOOS website here. 

The Ocean Observing System Report Card is available at: www.ocean-ops.org/reportcard2020 

The OceanOPS 5-year Strategic Plan (2021-2025) is available at: www.ocean-ops.org/strategy 

We are happy to let you know that the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) has launched its 2030 Strategy during the recent 1^st Global Planning Meeting of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, held 13-15 May in Copenhagen, Denmark. The need for expansion of a global ocean observing system, designed to meet the requirements of a broad suite of users, is clear and urgent. The Global Ocean Observing System 2030 Strategy identifies a vision for a truly integrated global ocean observing system that delivers the essential information needed for our sustainable development, safety, well-being and prosperity. The vision presented in the Strategy cannot be achieved by GOOS alone. GOOS will lead the ocean observing community and create the partnerships to grow an integrated, responsive and sustained observing system. The Strategy identifies objectives to deepen engagement and impact, improve system integration and delivery, and build for the future.

IOCCP as GOOS Biogeochemistry Panel is fully committed to being part of the community-wide effort to make this vision a reality.

We would like to let you know that the consortium of the EU-Horizon 2020 funded project AtlantOS (“Optimizing and Enhancing the Integrated Atlantic Ocean Observing System“) and participants of the First International AtlantOS Symposium have released the Paris Declaration calling for an All-Atlantic Ocean Observing System that builds on cooperation through Galway and Belem Statements. The Declaration and the Symposium mark the transition from the EUHorizon 2020 Project AtlantOS to its development into the international All-Atlantic Ocean Observing System.  

The Symopsium, which took place on 25-28 March at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris (France), was attended by scientists, policy makers, users, funders, the private sector and non-governmental organizations. The participants of this four-day long international meeting not only celebrated the success of four years of AtlantOS project work involving 62 partners from 18 countries and the investment of 20 million Euros, but also, presented a plan and ambition for the next decade of ocean observing in the Atlantic Ocean Basin to deliver on the needs of the Atlantic communities. 

IOCCP as Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) Biogeochemistry Expert Panel is happy to announce the release of GOOS Biogeochemistry Essential Ocean Variable (EOV) Specification Sheets version 2.0! The 2017 revision is the result of GOOS-wide dedicated efforts to better harmonize the EOV and associated concepts across all disciplines: physics & climate, biogeochemistry, biology & ecosystems; and to align the EOVs closer with the corresponding Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) developed by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS - see the 2016 GCOS Implementation Plan for details).

You can download the updated Biogoechemistry EOV Specification Sheets from our site HERE, and access the most recent versions of all GOOS EOVs from this site: www.goosocean.org/eov 

On 8-10 February 2017, Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) Panels for Physics & Climate (OOPC), Biology & Ecosystems and Biogeochemistry (IOCCP), and the Ocean Research Coordination Network (Ocean RCN) co-organized a workshop on "Implementation of Multi-disciplinary Sustained Ocean Observations (IMSOO)".

In the context of the EU AtlantOS Project, IOCCP started it's work towards defining quantifiable targets for the biogeochemical observing system. As with development of Essential Ocean Variables we hope for a wide community input over time. The first step of this effort is to focus on the Atlanic Ocean before expanding the process to other basins.