Scientists with the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO) have called for a $3 Billion investment in a global ocean monitoring system, calling it “vital to mankind.” According to these scientists, warming of seas, over-fishing and pollution are in need of constant monitoring on a global scale.
This call to action comes as 71 countries gather in Cape Tow for the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) conference. The meeting will discuss the progress and next steps in building the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) to monitor all of Earth’s systems.
Several smaller systems have been prototyped and proven. NEPTUNE is an impressive effort led by the University of Washington to integrate sensors in the pacific northwest along the Juan de Fuca fault in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia. The Ocean Research Interactive Observatory Networks (ORION) project is another National Science Foundation project that is pulling together a network of science driven ocean observing systems. There are many more regional systems in place that have proven the validity of the concept of an integrated system, and have increased our understanding of the largest ecosystem on our planet.
The National Science Foundation’s Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) is a $331 Million initiative to observe earth-ocean-atmosphere interaction. This system is designed for sustained, long-term and adaptive measurements of the oceans — enabling a new era of oceanographic observations that allow scientists to have constant contact with ocean systems.
