A new era for ocean observation: report of the OCEANOBS'99 conference

Oceanography and oceanographic observation are at a critical stage. A new era beckons, with observations implemented globally and fully integrated to serve a broad range of requirements. However, like the migrating wildebeest forging the river, the ocean community must resolve to act with common and agreed purpose, not with a piece-meal and haphazard approach.

The OceanObs '99 Conference1 held in Saint Raphael, France 18-22 October, 1999, brought together more than 350 researchers and managers from about 30 countries. The Conference sought the consensus needed for this step, addressing the collective needs of both research and operational oceanography. The Conference was bold in its vision and goals, successfully developing a broadly based and sound scientific rationale for the establishment of a sustained system. Practical El Niño forecasts, research on climate variability, climate change, and ocean and marine forecasts were prominent among in the rationale.

The Conference was purposefully structured to encourage consideration of, and agreement on, the value of a multipurpose, integrated system. This value was evident in many areas, for example in the wide application of altimeter and wind vector measurements and in the many considerations of complementary data streams.

The Conference explicitly considered issues of cost and returns on investment. Highest priority was attached to those elements that were perceived to be reliable, efficient and sustainable, from the perspective of delivering both short and long-term value for the investment. Proven methodologies were preferred to emerging or potential techniques.

Remote sensing has become a mature technology for collecting regular, global observations. Sea surface temperature, surface wind vectors, surface wave height and surface topography can all be measured with reliability from space. The Conference agreed that for a global system such capacity is fundamental. Consistent with the IGOS Oceans Theme study, continuity was seen as a major issue. A plenary round-table discussion highlighted the need to develop effective strategies for the transition of proven experimental techniques into a sustainable, operational mode.

Somewhat surprisingly, sea surface temperature emerged as an important future issue. In order to meet requirements, a more effective integration of available data must be achieved.

A multifaceted, robust in situ network must also be implemented, in part as a complement to, and calibration for, remotely sensed data, but also for its own intrinsic value in various applications. The primary contributions include
- the TOGA tropical Pacific ENSO Observing System and its mooring array
- the global array of profiling floats, Argo, returning around 100,000 profiles of temperature and salinity annually;
- a global surface drifter array and surface and subsurface networks operated from voluntary observing vessels;
- surface and subsurface reference sites, such as provided by sea level stations and fixed-point deep measurements;
- hydrographic measurements targeting the carbon cycle and the deep ocean circulation; and;
- acoustic tomography in selected high latitude regions.

These contributions would be supported by a program of dedicated enhancements in areas of high priority, for example PIRATA in the tropical Atlantic.

The development of a new paradigm for oceanography was one of the major achievements of the Conference. Free and wide availability of all data and products will now be the norm, not the exception. Significant challenges remain for many aspects of data and information management but none are regarded as insurmountable obstacles to progress.

While the focus of the Conference was on measurement networks, all participants recognised the fundamental importance of models and data assimilation to the progress, prosperity and evolution of the observing system. The new paradigm is fashioned around the use of models to interpret and exploit data and to develop products that encourage wide adoption and value-adding.

The degree of unanimity achieved by the Conference exceeded expectations, yet there is clearly much work remaining, both in terms of detail and in terms of enacting the recommendations. However the ocean community can look forward with some confidence to an era of great prospect and opportunity, and also one of enhanced responsibility. For oceanography and climate at least, the integrated global observing strategy is now being realised.