International leaders of the main Global Ocean Observing Networks & Scientific Experts meet in Mallorca, April 4-8, 2016.
Two international meetings will be hosted by IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB) and SOCIB, in cooperation with AEMET (State Meteorological Agency of Spain, www.aemet.es), from 4-8 April, 2016. The first is the Observations Programme Area of the Joint WMO-IOC Technical Commission on Oceanography and Marine Meteorology, and the second is the Ocean Observations Panel for Climate, a joint expert panel of the Global Climate Observing System and the Global Ocean Observing System with participation from the World Climate Research Programme (the 3 programmes are sponsored by WMO, IOC, UNEP, and ICSU)
The first meeting, the 7th Session of the JCOMM Observations Coordination Group (OCG), 4-6th April 2016 (agenda: http://www.jcomm.info/ocg7) is attended by leaders of the main global ocean observing networks including the International Argo Profiling Float programme, Global Ocean Shipboard Hydrography Programme (GO-SHIP), OceanSITES open ocean timeseries, and the Data Buoy Cooperation panel for MetOcean buoys. Representatives from the Ocean Gliders and High Frequency Radar communities will also attend the meeting, to discuss whether there is mutual benefit to their engagement.
The agenda is focused on the technical coordination of observations, capitalising on the synergies and opportunities for improved collaboration across networks in areas such as:
- Implementation: coordination, targets and metrics,
- Standards and best practices
- Testing and piloting new technologies
- Data and integration
The second, the 19th Session of the GCOS-GOOS-WCRP Ocean Observations Panel for Climate (OOPC), 6-8th April 2016 (agenda: http://www.ioc-goos.org/oopc19) is a scientific expert panel responsible for evaluating requirements for sustained observations and systems based approaches to meeting these requirements. This includes setting requirements for Essential Ocean Variables, and conducting focused evaluations and reviews. Previous reviews have focused on the Tropical Pacific and the Deep Ocean. The next focused evaluation is likely to focus on observing boundary currents (open ocean/shelf interactions), and the next steps for this evaluation will be discussed at this meeting
As both panels are looking to expand interests towards coastal ocean observing, where global coordination/oversight is mutually beneficial. Hence, IMEDEA and SOCIB were approached to host the meeting due to its expertise in coastal oceanography and multiplatform observing and forecasting.
