The development of a structure for improved international coordination of Arctic oceanography, such as an Arctic GOOS (Global Ocean Observing System) Regional Alliance (GRA), has been recommended in various fora in recent years, including during the development of the Arctic Action Plan for the UN Ocean Decade and at various editions of the Arctic Observing Summit (most recently in 2022).
A Task Team has been formed under the SAON Board to design and lead a process that results in an Arctic GRA or similar structured organisation being realised.
More information about the Task Team and the Terms of Reference for this is found here.
The survey on "Polar Observing Assets" was organised in preparation for the EU-PolarNet deliverable "Procedure for ongoing collection and collation of European Polar observing capacities and activities".
The survey ended 1st September, and a summary of the outcome is available here. The survey text is found here.There were a total of 89 respondents.
In addition to the overall report, separate reports have been prepared based on one of the questions in the survey: 'Are you or your institution engaged in one or more of the following international activities/organisations?' The question had these response options:
- Arctic Council (or one of its subsidiaries, i.e. Expert or Working Groups) (35)
- EU-PolarNet (26)
- European Polar Board (22)
- Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) / SCAR Standing Committee on Antarctic Data Management (SCADM) (36)
- Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS) (20)
- Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks (SAON) (or one of its Committees: ADC or CON) (40)
- Other EU-funded programmes, like Arctic PASSION, INTERACT or other EU Polar Cluster members (44)
For each of the sub-group of respondents, reports have been prepared, and they can be accessed through the link. The numbers in parenthesis gives the number of respondants in each report.
The preparation of the survey and reports have been funded through the European Commission's Horizon 2020 programme.
Teleconference | Meeting documents |
6th August 2020 15-16:30 CEDT / 13-14:30 UTC | GoToMeeting dial-in |
Documents for Potsdam meeting 17th July:
- Draft agenda, version 8th July
- Horizon 2020. Work Programme 2018-2020. 12 - Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials (Call text)
- LC-CLA-20-2020: Supporting the implementation of GEOSS in the Arctic in collaboration with Copernicus (page 53-54)
- LC-CLA-21-2020: Coordination of European Polar research (p. 46-47)
- Comments raised by Eva Kruemmel (ICC) to call text
- Questions from AWI/BAS consortium (from Board meeting 7th May)
- GoToMeeting dial-in
For more information on the deliberations behind the agenda, you may want to review the meeting notes from the SAON Executive Committee teleconference 24th June