Issues Asia- Oceania GEOSS Task 8 Oceans and Islands Andy Steven (Australia)

Significant Environmental Assets and Challenges

Urbanizing Coastal Environments Highly valuable: Economically Socially, and Culturally and Ecologically Vulnerable built infrastructure Rapidly changing and often disturbed: Population growth deteriorating water quality Changing morphology Loss of habitat and Changing biotic composition Climate variability Apart from physical modification to these systems (e.g. addition of artificial structures and loss of important sediment habitat), important chemical stressors include toxic contaminants (e.g. metals and hydrophobic organic chemicals such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)) enriching contaminants (e.g. fertilisers), emerging contaminants (e.g. microplastics), and changes to natural conditions such as salinity and turbidity that are outside the natural range of variation.  The communities living in these systems are exposed to multiple stressors and it is vital that the ecological consequences are investigated over large spatial scales.  It is also vital that manipulative studies in the field and lab investigate the interactions between these multiple stressors and add to our understanding of the impacts so they can be better managed. From van Sebille et al. 2015

Small Island Developing States Not represented at GEO Face some of the most proximate and life changing climate challenges Need to develop sustainable livelihoods Presentation title | Presenter name | Page 4

Sensorisation of the Oceans 10–3000 m depth 30–6000 m depth <500 m altitude <6000 m altitude <20 km altitude >500 km altitude <100 m depth Autonomous Surface Vessel (ASV) Example: ASV Ltd C Cat Quadcopter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Example: Insitu Pacific CT110 Low-Altitude Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Example: Insitu Pacific ScanEagle High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Example: Boeing Phantom Eye Remote Sensing Earth Observation Satellite Example: Boeing Phoenix 502 Very Large Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Example: Boeing Echo Seeker Large Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Example: Boeing Echo Ranger Small Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Example: UCSD Stingray Anchored Communication & Sensing Buoy Communication Satellites Shore-Based Communication Infrastructure Manned Research Vessel AV Launch/Recovery AV Communication Hub Free-Drifting Profiling Floats Example: IMOS ARGO Ocean Glider Example: IMOS Slocum Glider

EO for Oceans, Coasts and Islands Habitat & Bathy Mapping Ocean & Coastal Forecasting Environmental Assessment Events & Disasters WfO Vision | Andy Steven |

Presentation title | Presenter name T8 Oceans and Islands Goal To advance and exploit synergies among the many observational programmes devoted to island, coastal and ocean, to improve engagement with a variety of users for enhancing the timeliness, quality and range of services delivered; to raise awareness of the societal benefits of ocean observations at the public and policy levels Focus on coastal countries and small island states Tasks Identify and articulate user needs. Produce new marine and coastal observation network by supporting and linking partners. Improve the Coastal Applications of the Data Cube and Modelling the Hydrodynamics and Biogeochemistry of the ocean environment. Evaluate the sea level rise risk for the developing states in the western and eastern Pacific. Presentation title | Presenter name

O&I – Mission and Tasks To advance and exploit synergies among the many observational programmes devoted to island, coastal and ocean, to improve engagement with a variety of users for enhancing the timeliness, quality and range of services delivered; to raise awareness of the societal benefits of ocean and coastal observations & to underpin SDGs Focus on coastal countries and small island states

Oceans & Islands Tasks Identify and articulate user needs. Enhance marine and coastal observation network by supporting and linking partners. Improve the Coastal Applications of the Data Cube and Modelling the Hydrodynamics and Biogeochemistry of the ocean environment and for habitat monitoring. Evaluate the sea level rise risk for the small island and coastal states in the Pacific and Indian Oceans

Collaborations and Linkages Oceans and Society Blue Planet MBON WESTPAC IOC GOOS-PAC-, SEA- and NEAR-GOOS UNESCAP APEC SPREP Who Else?