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The Third Meeting of the Partnership
for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO)
The Third Annual Meeting of the Partnership for Observation of
the Global Oceans took place at White Point in Nova Scotia, Canada
on 27-29 November, 2001. Participants representing oceanographic
institutions from some thirteen countries (Argentina, Australia,
Brazil, Canada, Chile, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Russia,
South Africa, United Kingdom, and the United States of America)
attended the meeting. Several international organizations, such
as the Argo Programme, CLIVAR (CLImate VARiability and predictability),
CoML (Census of Marine Life), COOP (the Coastal Ocean Observation
Panel), IOC (Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission), IOCCG
(International Ocean Colour Co-ordinating Group), JCOMM (Joint Commission
on Oceanography and Marine Meteorology), PICES (North Pacific Marine
Science Organisation), and SCOR (Scientific Committee on Oceanic
Research) were also represented. In all, there were over forty participants.
The meeting was hosted by Dr. Mike Sinclair, Regional Director of
Science at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography. Mr. Neil Bellefontaine,
Regional Director General, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), welcomed
the participants. Dr. Elisabeth Marsollier, Director General, Aquaculture
and Oceans, and Dr. John Davis, former Assistant Deputy Minister
for Science, DFO, both conveyed messages of welcome and support.
The meeting began with presentations related to some of the main
themes of POGO: the Argo project (a fleet of bouys distributed on
the world’s oceans to collect oceanographic data), time-series
observations, and biological observations. Dr. Dean Roemmich, Chairman
of the Argo Science Team, provided updates on the programme. He
suggested that POGO member institutions encourage the applications
of the Argo data stream, which is freely available, as this was
essential to ensure the long-term viability of the programme. Dr.
Bob Weller reported on the findings of the first meeting of the
Time Series Working Group. Prof. John Field summarized the recommendations
from the POGO Biology Workshop, and Dr. Jesse Ausubel spoke of recent
advances in the Census of Marine Life (CoML) and its links with
POGO.
The group reviewed issues related to capacity building on the second
day of the meeting. The POGO-IOC-SCOR Fellowship Programme, which
was initiated at POGO-2, is now well established. The programme
receives generous financial support from IOC and SCOR. So far, 13
Fellowships have been offered under this programme, which allows
trainees from developing countries and economies in transition to
travel to oceanographic laboratories in other countries for training
on selected aspects of ocean observation. POGO also participated
in, and co-sponsored, training programmes in South America (through
the Austral Summer Institute organized by the University of Concepción
and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) and in India (in collaboration
with the IOCCG). The members resolved to continue such efforts in
the future. IOC and SCOR have also decided to continue their support
of the Fellowship Programme. There were also discussions on the
possibility of organizing a training cruise on board a Russian research
vessel, in collaboration with the IOCCG. POGO also decided to continue
its support of SEREAD (Scientific Educational Resources and Experience
Associated with the Deployment of Argo drifting floats in the South
Pacific Ocean).
As an impressive follow-up to the São Paulo Declaration
of POGO, which called for increased observations in the Southern
Hemisphere, the JAMSTSEC team proposed a circumpolar cruise on their
research vessel Mirai, in the Southern Hemisphere, in partnership
with other members of POGO. This was seen as an important step towards
rectifying the imbalance in observations between the northern and
southern hemispheres. The proposal was received warmly by the POGO
members, and there were many offers of help and collaboration. Prof.
Ulloa from Chile spoke of their plans to enhance the observational
capacity of Chile, and in particular, of their efforts to obtain
a replacement for their ageing research vessel. Members were invited
to explore possibilities for addressing the matter.
There were presentations at the meeting regarding CoML, COOP, CLIVAR,
the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), IOC, IGOS, IOCCG, JCOMM,
the Ocean Observing Panel for Climate (OOPC), and PICES, and their
links to POGO. There were presentations from several institutions,
including: AOML (Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory),
BIO, Dalhousie University, the New Zealand National Institute for
Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), the Shirshov Institute of
Oceanology (Russia), University of Cape Town (South Africa), and
University of Concepción (Chile) regarding their on-going
activities of relevance to POGO.
A principal focus of this meeting was biological observations.
Following the recommendations of the biology workshop, the Partnership
resolved to initiate a biological observation system to monitor
phytoplankton dynamics, and to organize a workshop in South America
to promote regional observations of marine biodiversity. The establishment
of a network of open-ocean, fixed-point, time-series observations
also received special attention. The activities of the Time Series
Working Group are to continue, and the next meeting is to take place
in Hawaii, in February 2002.
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