WS1: Overall remarks plenary Major investments in O.O. during the past 15 years: Global, regional, national. Function under EuroGOOS and regional OOS/M: Need to take advantage and use them for MMA in Europe Current phase of O.O.: transition from research to mainstream production. GMES MCS provides the framework Need for: consolidation – coherence – quality – avoid overlapping taking user needs into account Need to strength links between regional conventions (+env. Agencies) and regional O.O. (OOS/N). Continue dialogue on proper governance (e.g. agreements)

WS1: Overall remarks plenary How can OO contribute to MMA ?: Contribute to indicators (esp State and Impact of DPSIR) Temporal variability (trends, anomalies) Spatial variability & dynamics (e.g. effect of circulation on pollution transport) Contribute to crisis management & episodic events (oil spills, algae blooms) that affect state of marine environment Provide context for in-situ sampling (optimum observations)

Group2: Overall Discussion There are terminology “problems” but we need to focus on the “common objective” and identify synergies (improve MMA by using OO information products that are “fit for purpose”, focusing on: delivery, quality and timeliness) O.O. definition: systematic – long term monitoring combining all available observations with modeling -assimilation systems to generate hindcasting-nowcasting-forecasting products of well defined standards (error bars/ quality / delivery) Discussion on the 2 of 3 themes: Physical features (A1-A4), primary and secondary productivity (C8, D1) Focused on MSD table but also extend to extra physical parameters as needed for EEA assessments

Group2: Overall Discussion Governance issues; conventions are using binding agreements; EuroGOOS/OOS/N are based on institutional & national contributions but still not intergovernmental MERSEA; Demonstration project of upgraded national capabilities; how to take it over to fully operational capability? only possible if MCS is implemented to sustain and improve existing capabilities. WFD is a user of all these products Final conclusion: exercise worth running even without MSD

Group2: recommendations Regional sea conventions to highlight possible new indicators and data sets as needed for their forthcoming 2009-2010 assessments to allow proper response from O.O Draft joint collaboration actions between conventions and regional OOS/N to fulfill the above. Meeting already agreed between HELCOM-BOOS ICES to fill tables, HELCOM to revise indicator titles used in relevant tables (self explanatory) Governance issues to be further elaborated Recognizing the value of bringing the 2 communities together, consider future meeting to address implementation issues

Group2: Summary of A1-A4 Strong OO contribution to physical features (less for bathymetry). Many data / products available and used in assessments (definition of seasonal variability, trends, anomalies etc). Fit for purpose products can be delivered Contribution goes beyond MSD tables (“extra’) To do: Add OOS/N contribution Remove NOAA, GODAE global products Ask ICES to add info on currents & water exchange Delete “Climate Variability” entry; addressed implicitly in the extra physical features table

Group2: Discussion on “extra” physical parameters Overall context: OO data sets can be used to attribute pressures to impacts (in particular for climate change) Sea Level: climate change, coastal – link to bathymetry (MERSEA, OOS/N) Ice (HELCOM, MERSEA, ArcticGOOS) Waves regime (mixing, impact on ecosystem, erosion, bottom drag) (HELCOM, OOS/N) Light (vertical variability – impact on ecosystem functioning) MERSEA, HELCOM, JRC, OOS, (all above: data sets – not indicators – operational)

Group2: Discussion on Biological elements (1) Include fisheries ? Not well developed. Still subregional; need to be upscaled; enlarged with new techniques Increase synergies between all actors involved in ecosystem based approach include DG fish OO products already used in the context of fish assessments of ICES Limit to our present capabilities: phytoplankton – zooplankton – nutrients – oxygen (R/S, in-situ, modeling)

Group2: Discussion on Biological elements (2) C8: Chlorophyll-a Chl-a measurements by OO are mainly limited to surface (R/S, FB). Need to expand/add this capability to gliders, floats etc. Among other, such data are needed for model validation. For R/S products we need: a) long time series to identify trends b) improved ground truth validation at a regional scale. Comparability – compatibility issues. Phytoplankton species composition is already measured by FB and R/S Zooplankton measured by CPR. Possibly add an entry at the relevant table Additional products (species composition, biomass, community structure) are made available by OO at regional scales (ecosystem models). Soon available at pan European level

Group2: Discussion on Biological elements (3) D1: Nutrients Operational data already used in the Baltic for assessments Nutrient cycling: data sets available for North Sea; still under development; need to be upscaled and strengthened Nutrients budget: gap to be filled

Group2: Summary of C8-D1 OO products are already available primarily for phytoplankton and secondarily for zooplankton, nutrients, oxygen Limited observing capacity compared to physical parameters: need for further developments (monitoring systems, analysis methods) Marine ecosystem models are in pre-operational phase of development. Soon to be available on a European scale Need to improve our understanding of system functioning to be able to interpret / use data

Group2: Actions Extract further recommendations from day1/day2 general comments Revise indicator table with results from discussion Match indicator and monitoring table Send our report for comments

Group2: Detailed – specific Actions A1: Add reference to regional data sets. A2: Remove NOAA A2: Replace “Sea Surface Temperature” by “Sea Temperature” (thermal regime)

Group2: Actions Table C8: Chl-a Add OOS/N, JRC check input from BSC to A1-5 tables Table D1 Remove “spatial distribution” Change “nutrients conditions” to “nutrients concentration” For D1 table, change order of 5-6 (oxygen, primary production)