GOOS and GTOS
Thorkild Aarup
IOC Secretariat
GTOS Steering Committee Meeting
Paris, 30 Nov - 2 Dec 2009
Global Ocean Observing System
GOOS is a series of observation and monitoring
programmes designed to:
• Monitor, understand and predict weather and climate
• Describe and forecast the state of the ocean,
including living resources
• Improve management of marine and coastal
ecosystems and resources
• Mitigate damage from natural hazards and pollution
• Protect life and property on coasts and at sea
• Enable scientific research
GOOS is comprised of:
An open ocean module
Advised by the Ocean Observations Panel for Climate
(OOPC) [with JCOMM/WCRP/GCOS]
Implemented by member states usually cooperating
through the Joint WMO-IOC Commission for
Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM)
A coastal module
Advised by the Panel on Integrated Coastal Observations
(PICO)
Implemented by member states usually cooperating
through GOOS regional alliances.
GOOS Planning for Open and Coastal
Ocean Modules
Open Ocean
Coastal Ocean
C-GOOS (5)
HOTO (4)
LMR (4)
COOP (7)
Links to C-GTOS
2008 PICO Panel formed
GTOS Contributions to GOOS
• GOOS relies on GTOS to provide land-based input to
the coastal ocean (fluxes of water, sediments,
nutrients, chemical contaminants, and human
pathogens from land to estuarine and marine
systems.)
• Land use practices data & products
• Terrestrial Ecosystem Monitoring Sites (TEMS) &
Long Term Ecological Research Sites
Implementing Coastal GOOS
1st GOOS Regional Forum, Athens, Greece, 2002
2nd GOOS Regional Forum, Nadi, Fiji, 2004
3rd GOOS Regional Forum, Cape Town, S. Africa, 2006
4th GRA Forum, Guyaquil, Ecuador, November, 2008
PICO Developments:
• Panel established in 2008 and two meetings held
• Primary focus to develop a prioritized Implementation Plan
for the Coastal Module of GOOS.
Driver:
The group has decided to focus on the
COOP Phenomena of Interest, identifying the end to end system
components for each, overlapping elements, and an overall
“system of systems” approach to maximize cost-benefit and
ensure the maximum value from an integrated, coordinated
observing framework that scales from regional to global.
Draft Implementation Plan Outline:
Chapter 1: Vision and Background
Chapter 2: Phenomena of interest (all) and types of end users with
mapped, user-driven products and indicators
Chapter 3: End to End System Approach for initial subset (6 total; see
next slide) of Phenomena of Interest (PoI)
Chapter 4: Cross-cut across PoIs : common measurement, modeling,
information delivery approaches; common variables
Chapter 5: Integrated system of systems approach; relation between
regional and global – scaling issues
Chapter 6: Build-out plan: Phased prioritized build-out plan; pilot
projects; Responsible advisory, oversight & implementation
bodies; Funding Mechanisms and Community Partnerships;
Capacity building
Initial Phenomena of Interest Focus:
• Coastal Flooding Events
• Exposure to Waterborne Pathogens
• Ocean Acidification
• Habitat modification and loss
• Euthrophication – hypoxia
• Abundance of exploitable living marine resources
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