The Beginnings of the IOOS

A nice little document discusses the early beginnings of the IOOS. Here's the first paragraph from the Prologue:

In August 1998, Congressmen Curt Weldon (R-PA) and James Saxton (R-NJ), Chairs of the Subcommittee on Military Research and Development and the Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife, and Oceans, respectively, sent a letter to John Dalton, the Secretary of the Navy, and D. James Baker, Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, in their capacity as Chair and Vice Chair, respectively, of the National Ocean Research Leadership Council (NORLC) of the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP). These letters requested the NORLC to "propose a plan to achieve a truly integrated ocean observing system."

Dr. Richard Spinrad's IOOS presentation

Dr. Richard W. Spinrad, the U.S. Representative to the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, as well as the Asssistant Administrator for NOAA's National Ocean Survey, has presented a vision statement and other overview slides (a PPT file) of an Integrated Ocean Observing System.

Group on Earth Observations

The Group on Earth Observations states that on July 31, 2003, 33 nations plus the European Commission adopted a Declaration that signified political commitment to move toward development of a comprehensive, coordinated, and sustained Earth observation system. The list now includes 58 nations.

This site keeps track of a variety of progress steps toward that goal, including the 10-year implementation plan.

List of *OOS Networks

Just to give you an idea of how other regions are handling their Ocean Observing Systems, here's a provisional list of various *OOS networks:

Integrated Ocean Observing System (U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy)
National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP)
Ocean Research Interactive Observatory Networks (ORION)
Pacific Coast Ocean Observing System (PACOOS)
Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System (GoMOOS)
Open IOOS
Southeastern United States Ocean Observing System (SEACOOS)
Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS)
Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS)
Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System (CeNCOOS)
Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS)
North-East Pacific Time-Series Undersea Networked Experiments (NEPTUNE)
Pacific Ocean Oberving System (PacOOS)
Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System (SCCOOS)

Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System

The Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS) is concerned with sustained observations and/or products and services based on such observations from the estuaries and Exclusive Economic Zone of the Gulf of Mexico. Observations and products from this group might be of help in understanding coral reef dynamics within the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

NASA's Plans for Earth Science Challenged at Hearing

The American Institute of Physics (AIP) has issued a status report on NASA's Earth Science Plan (the Plan might indirectly affect how we gain satellite data for mapping and monitoring coral reefs):

Members of the science community and leaders of the House Science Committee warned NASA at an April 28 hearing that efforts to cut Earth science funding and missions at the space agency would not be taken lightly. The AIP report discusses the context and content of a just-released interim report by a National Research Council (NRC) committee which states that the vitality of NASA's Earth science and application programs "has been placed at substantial risk by a rapidly shrinking budget that no longer supports already-approved missions and programs of high scientific and societal relevance."

"It sounds like the real problem," Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-MI) remarked, "is that NASA is low on money because it's been given new missions and wasn't given the money to do them, so it's cutting and scraping...to get rid of what it can." He warned NASA Associate Administrator for Science Alphonso Diaz, that "we regard this as a very big change" that should not be undertaken without the involvement of the research community and the consent of Congress.

SCCOOS

The Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System (SCCOOS), appears to have a well-managed observing system network, and is worth looking at as we move towards building our own. They certainly have a nicely organized project, which is also reflected in their well-organized Web page.