To date, largely independent observing systems have evolved to meet the needs of particular disciplines and end users – many of these still measure only ocean physical variables routinely. The Implementation of Multidisciplinary Sustained Ocean Observations (IMSOO) workshop was held to identify priority steps to further multi-disciplinary collaborations in coordinating continuous and long-term ocean observations for the benefit of better understanding of the ocean and its ecosystems, as well as human impacts and vulnerabilities. The workshop was designed to follow the approach of the Framework for Ocean Observing (FOO), within which societal and scientific requirements for measurements as well as the feasibility of making such measurements combine to prioritize Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs). With the goal of supporting the global implementation of the FOO, an international and multi-disciplinary group of experts in ocean observations and modelling successfully addressed the three major aims of the workshop which were:
To build on the established societal and scientific requirements expressed in EOVs and identify the key applications and phenomena that will benefit from co-located multi-disciplinary sustained observations;
To identify near-term innovation priorities for observing platforms and sensors to enable multi-disciplinary observations; and
To identify programmatic and professional connections between existing and emerging observing networks and modelling efforts that will increase multidisciplinary observations and analyses. To provide an innovative mechanism fostering convergence across the ocean disciplines, the workshop focused on three “demonstration themes”, chosen because they represent global and challenging problems that are best addressed through collaboration of physical, biogeochemical and biological observations and analyses
