2. History of Ocean Observation Conference
OceanObs ‘99 – France, ~300 participants, laid out basic ocean climate obs that we have today (drifter, floats, xbt, tide gauge…)
OceanObs ‘09 – Venice, Italy, ~640 participants, expanding the community of sustained observation and the Framework for Ocean Observing.
OceanObs’19 – Honolulu, USA, ~1200 participants. Connecting observers with end user community.

5. What is done already? Honolulu Convention Center (HCC)
16-20 September 2019 (733 Days to go!)
Anchor Sponsor: NASA
Co-Sponsors: NSF, NOAA, ESA, GEO, GCOS, MERCATOR, and growing!
Letter of intent signed with HCC on 12/30/16
Signing bonus opens a OceanObs’19 account!
Option for side meetings around the conf.
Initial Site Review completed in Honolulu – May2017

6. What’s new since May?
Program Committee - “The input to the conference”
Co-chairs selected: Sabrina Speich (France), Tony Lee (USA), Minhan Dai (China), Sanae Chiba (Japan)
Staff support from Nicholas Rome and Kruti Desai (Staff of US IOOC Consortium for Ocean Leadership)
Local Organizing Committee - “Executing the event.”
Co-chairs selected: Bruce Howe and James Potemra (U.Hawaii)
Staff support from UCAR (Andrea McCurdy + Boulder Staff)
Sponsor Committee - “Guiding the output from the event”
Co-chairs selected: Eric Lindstrom (USA), Martin Visbeck (Germany), TBC – Weidong Yu (China)
Staff support from Katy Hill (WMO)
Executive Committee - “Coordination”
Constituted from the ALL Co-Chairs

7. Distributed Staff Support
NASA has established and funded a Cooperative Agreement with UCAR (Boulder, CO) with one task being the logistical support for OceanObs’19. UCAR is able to bank contributions to support the event. NOAA OOMD has made the first such contribution.
The USA Interagency Ocean Observation Committee (IOOC) has agreed to share some of its staff support toward OceanObs’19
GCOS Office at WMO has agreed to provide staff support (Katy Hill) to the Sponsors Committee.
A full staffing forecast and budget for OceanObs’19 will be one of the actions of the Executive Committee during the coming months.

8. What’s new right now? Executive Committee meeting monthly
Website is live
Draft and publish first circular
Town Halls scheduled for AGU Fall Meeting and Ocean Sciences
Update timeline for conference prep
Complete a draft budget for event
Sponsorship information and levels complete
MTS 2019 meeting deconflicted

9. What is needed near-term?
Further mobilizing sponsors (led by Sponsors Committee)
Determining priority outcomes of the conference
Guidance for the all conference participants (FAQ)
Engaging observing system groups
Engaging user communities
Send ideas to any member of the Executive Committee

10. OceanObs19 Conference Timeline
Winter 2017: Abstract and white paper process begins
Winter 2018: Town Halls at Ocean Sciences
Fall 2018: Registration opens
Fall 2019: Publish white papers in Fall 2019
Fall 2019: Conference begins

11. Community Engagement (strawman plan)
Call for Abstracts for OceanObs’19 Community White-Papers
Solicit Community White-Papers based on abstract or groups of abstracts (review and publication in a journal TBD)
Solicit Plenary White-Papers to be drafted from groups of Community White-Papers (similar to OceanObs’09) (review and publication in a journal TBD)
Solicit Posters for the Conference (no restrictions).

12. Updating the Framework for Ocean Observing
Since the FOO was an outcome of OceanObs’09, it seems reasonable that the pros and cons of the FOO be articulated by and during OceanObs’19.
A process to arrive at a “FOO 2.0” has been initiated by interviewing a set of key stakeholders and compiling results (Andrea McCurdy)
No decision has been taken as to how to fold the “FOO 2.0” process and timeline into OceanObs’19.

13. Back Up Slides

14. Some ideas related to “Input”
White paper fatigue recognized
Externalize white paper review (use journal)
Get structured input on observing system status & forward evolutions (10 yr) & user community engagement.
Collect input on “requirements” with 10 yr plan & user engagement.

15. Some ideas related to “output”
Endorsement of approach for biological observations including metrics
“Integration” moved from platform-based to EOV-based approach
Deliver products by EOV
Get requirements from industry/super users
Sponsor developing country scientists