The Full Picture

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including both the open ocean and coastal modules, will

require substantial new commitments frommember states

and much stronger intergovernmental mechanisms to

ensure they are sustained.

Putting aside the importance of simplicity as a means

to ensure reliability and sustainability, it is clear that pres-

sure will always exist to fill gaps and improve accuracy.

Indeed, many exciting new technologies are being devel-

oped as pilot projects for potential future inclusion in

GOOS and, as with any new technology, there will no

doubt be myriad exciting spin-offs from these innovations.

One example is the recently approved GOOS pilot project,

the ocean tracking network (OTN), which simultaneously

monitors ocean conditions and marine life response to

these conditions by tagging sea creatures with tiny trans-

mitters. These transmitters allow the movement of sea

creatures to be tracked for over 20 years by receivers placed

at one-kilometre intervals along the ocean floor, across

tively boring. In order to serve such a diverse array of users and prod-

ucts, operational observing system components are designed to be

inexpensive, simple, reliable and to adhere to common standards and

protocols. Hardly headline material. As with levees in New Orleans and

highway bridges in Minnesota, for example, the ocean observing system

is designed to unobtrusively provide public services that generally only

receive attention when they fail.

What are these low profile observing system components? As

described in the article

The blue planet – observations of the global ocean

by Baker et al in this book, a network of buoys, moorings, floats, tide

gauges and XBT hydrographic lines that make up the planned in situ

open ocean module is in place. However, the network has to date

reached just over 50 per cent of its design specifications, and current

and projected future levels of national contributions are clearly insuf-

ficient to finish the task. Furthermore, although plans for a coastal

module for the GOOS have been agreed, they have yet to develop

substantially as a global system, but in many cases continue to exist as

a menagerie of disparate national efforts. Full implementation of GOOS,

An ocean observing scheme for the Arctic Ocean

The ocean-observing scheme for the Arctic Ocean currently being implemented by the DAMOCLES Integrated Project of EC-FP6. An extensive system of

floats and gliders explore the upper ocean, communicating their data to satellites and receiving measurement-control and navigation information via a

net of ice-tethered platforms

Source: Summerhayes et al, Observing the Polar Oceans During the International Polar Year and Beyond, WMO bulletin 56(4) 2007

GEOSS C

OMPONENTS

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BSERVING

YSTEMS