The Blue Planet mission coordinates various marine initiatives within GEO to raise awareness of the oceans' role in the Earth system and their impacts on humanity. It advocates for a global ocean observing network to provide societal benefits like improved safety, sustainably managed coasts, and climate adaptation. Blue Planet builds on existing programs and aims to identify synergies, link data to applications, and connect to relevant policies. It focuses on sustained ocean observations, developing capacity and awareness, ocean forecasting services, coastal zone services, ocean climate and carbon observations.

1. Oceans and Society: Blue Planet
The Marine Task within GEO
www. oceansandsociety.org
Dr. Sophie Seeyave
Executive Director, Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans
On behalf of the Blue Planet Steering Committee

2. Figure courtesy GEO Secretariat

3. Blue Planet Mission
To raise public awareness of the role of the oceans in the Earth
system, of their impacts (good and bad) on humankind, and of
the societal benefits of ocean observations;
To coordinate the various marine initiatives within GEO and
develop synergies between them; and
To advocate and advance the establishment and maintenance of
a global observing network for the oceans.

4. Seeking integration in a complex and crowded scene
AtlantOS
Coastal Zone Community
of Practice
IOC/UNESCO
JCOMM
IODE
OBIS
DBCP
SOT
GLOSS
Argo
OceanSITES
IOCCP
GEOHAB
GEOWOW
GEO Integrated Water
Information Task
IV-TT
OSE-TT
COSS-TT
MEP-TTSAFARI
Capacity Building
IQOE
GACS
Antares
ChloroGIN
IOCCG
GCOS
GCZIS
CLRCoP
GHRSST
Virtual Constellations
Carbon Task Force
WGClimate
PIRATA
RAMATAO

5. Building on Existing Efforts
• Blue Planet builds on existing programmes and
coordinating mechanisms addressing ocean
observations and their societal applications.
• Blue Planet adds value by:
– providing additional exposure and visibility to these
programmes
– identifying synergies between programmes, both within
Blue Planet and with related activities across the GEO
community and beyond
– linking data to products to information to knowledge
– demonstrating societal benefits
– where possible making a concerted effort to link to
relevant policies and policy frameworks.

6. Developing capacity and societal awareness
Sustained ocean observations
Datacollection
Data/info
management
Models
Data products and services
Societal applications
Sustain-
able
fisheries
Ocean forecasting
Tsunami
warning
Flood
forecasts
Sea level
forecasts
Oil spill
response
HAB
monitoring
Biodiversity
monitoring
Pollution
monitoring
Societal benefits
Improved human health and safety,
Sustainably managed coastal zones,
Climate change adaptation/mitigation,
Climate
forecasts
Search and rescue
Improved ecosystem services and food security

7. Blue Planet Structure
& Partners
Sustained Ocean
Observations
C1
Developing Capacity
& Societal
Awareness
C6
Ocean Forecasting &
Services
C3
Ocean Climate &
Carbon
C5
Sustained
Ecosystems & Food
Security
C2
Services for the
Coastal Zone
C4

8. Sustained Ocean Observations
• Sustained ocean observations are a core infrastructure
to generate scientific and societal value
• Strategic planning and evaluation of the system of
sustained ocean observations require dialogue with
users and information providers
GOAL: to deliver a sustained ocean observing system
meeting societal and scientific needs for data and
information
C1

9. C1: Building from existing in situ and
satellite observations
continuous satellite measurements of
sea surface temperature, height,
winds, ocean color, and sea ice
Total in situ networks 67% Dec 2014
Surface measurements from volunteer
ships (VOS)
Global drifting surface buoy
array
Tide gauge network (GLOSS
committed)
XBT sub-surface temperature
section network
Argo profiling float network
Repeat hydrography and carbon
inventory
100%
250 ships in VOSclim pilot project
5° resolutionarray: 1250 floats
100%
40%
39%
100%
62%
300 real-time reporting gauges
37000 XBTs deployed
3° resolutionarray: 3200 floats
Full ocean survey in 10 years
Global tropical moored buoy network
76%
125 moorings planned87 combined sites
Global time series
network66%
30 34 40 45 48 55 56 59 60 62 62 62 62 62%
2000 2001 2002 20132003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Representative
Milestones
Original goal for full implementation by 2010
System % sustained,
of initial goals
100%
ice buoys
Fast data Slow/no data
GPS
(Planned)
63%
2014

10. Sustained ecosystems & food Security
• Chlorophyll Globally Integrated Network (ChloroGIN) and Antares
• Societal Applications in Fisheries and Aquaculture of Remotely-
sensed Imagery (SAFARI)
• Global Alliance of Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Surveys
• International Quiet Ocean Experiment (IQOE)
• Mangrove monitoring
• Coral Reef Monitoring (GCRMN, I-CREOS)
• Estuary monitoring (Our Global Estuary)
GOAL: to provide sustained, integrated and globally-complete
observations of the ocean ecosystem for use by the scientific
community and by the decision makers responsible for ocean
stewardship.
C2

11. Example: SAFARI

12. Ocean forecasting & services
• Support the GODAE OceanView international programme for the consolidation
and improvement of global and regional ocean forecasting systems
• Build upon forecasting systems, information and services developed in the
framework of the Copernicus Marine Env Monitoring Service (CMEMS) -MyOcean
• Establish a global operational oceanography network, connecting advanced
operational forecasting centres in developed countries and quasi-operational
centers in Asia, Africa and Latin America
• Enhance communication and collaboration among national ocean forecasting
systems to foster exchange of knowledge and expertise.
• Promote operational ocean forecasting services for societal benefit such as
weather forecasting, climate change detection and its coastal impacts, search and
rescue, oil spill response.
GOAL: to raise capability of ocean forecasting and analysis in
support of societally-relevant services.
C3

13. Services for the coastal zone
GOAL: to improve access to environmental intelligence for all
stakeholders, and to support deliberations on coastal zone
management as well as decision making related to sustainable
development.
- C4 is heavily focused on user information needs and observation
requirements
- Expected outcomes include identification of sub-sets of essential
variables; specifically for sea level and water quality
- Expected to result in several demonstrators
- Working to provide in-kind support from NOAA to facilitate some of
these activities.
C4

14. Activity 1: Develop a global coastal zone information system: a global cyber-
infrastructure providing access to information on coastal zones and collection of
new information through crowd-sourcing and citizen-science.
Activity 2: Implement a pilot project in an area-at-risk to demonstrate the
added-value of ecosystem-based approaches for monitoring and managing the
coastal zone. This will be coordinated with GOOS Regional Associations and
global/regional networks (see PICO Plan).
Activity 3: Assess climate change impacts on island coasts from the Caribbean to
the Arctic using SAR data as a demonstrator for the use of space-based
observations in the monitoring of climate change impacts (link to CEOS).
Activity 4: Assess the observational requirements for decadal forecasts of coastal
local sea-level variation and develop a demonstrator forecasting service.
Activity 5: Assess user needs and observational requirements for coastal water
quality (using the GEOSS User Requirements Registry); identify indicators and
best practices, and implement a monitoring service pilot for coastal water
quality; disseminate information particularly to under-served communities).
Proposed activities

15. Ocean Climate and Carbon
Observations (from space and in-situ) for both climate and carbon should
be based on concrete requirements, i.e.
- Climate: GCOS ECVs (+ EOVs) for climate
- Carbon: GEO Carbon Strategy Report + CEOS Strategy for Carbon
Observations from Space; GOOS-Biogeochemistry EOVs.
Many efforts to build on these requirements, coordinated by CEOS,
JCOMM, OOPC, IOCCP…
Ocean acidification networks: GOA-ON, OA-ICC (IAEA), national OA
programmes…
Where possible making a concerted effort to link to relevant policies and
policy frameworks (e.g. UNFCCC).
Goal: to advance the development and implementation of the
ocean contributions to the observation systems for both Climate
and Carbon, and in particular to address the issues and synergies
across the climate-carbon interface for the marine environment.
C5

16. C6: Developing Capacity and Societal
Awareness
Participating Organisations:
Capacity Building:
• Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO)
• International Ocean Data and Information Exchange
(IODE)
• Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR)
Societal awareness:
POGO –links with Ocean Communicators United, Trans-
Atlantic Ocean Literacy, EMSEA, NMEA…
GOAL: to maintain, develop and expand capacity-building in the field of ocean
observations, and to inform and involve citizens in ocean observations using
innovative approaches.

17. Capacity building in marine science, ocean
observations and data management
Number of trainees: >700 by POGO, >1300 by IODE, >2000 by SCOR
Number of countries: 72 for POGO, 120 for IODE

18. Key Milestones & future plans
Website launched
White Paper
Book published
www.oceansandsociety.org
http://www.cambridgescholars.com/
oceans-and-society
2011 2012 2013 2014 2016
Kick-Off Symposium
in Brazil
1st Steering
Committee Meeting
2nd Symposium in
AustraliaPOGO submits
Task proposal
to GEO for
2012-2015
Work Plan
2015
3rd Symposium
in USA
Blue Planet Task
SB-01 accepted
by GEO Plenary
and incorporated
into 2012-2015
Work Plan
Post-2015
GEO Work
Program
GEO Ministerial
in Mexico

19. Desired discussions/outcomes from
Symposium
• Where should Blue Planet sit in the new GEO Work
Programme?
• Inclusive versus focussed?
• Does Blue Planet need an Implementation Plan?
• Should the Blue Planet Mission be updated, in particular to
include stronger emphasis on user engagement?
• Input to Ministerial Declaration?
• Better articulation of the value of Blue Planet
• Sustainability of best-effort organisation?
• Exploring synergies
• Policy linkages (e.g. UNFCCC, SDG, MSFD…)

20. info@oceansandsociety.org @GEOBluePlanet
POGO Secretariat
Plymouth Marine Laboratory
Prospect Place, Plymouth PL1 3DH, UK
ssve@pml.ac.uk
www.oceansandsociety.org
Credit: ESA