Environmentally Sustainable Ocean Obs

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The POGO Environmentally Sustainable Ocean Observing Working Group was established as an outcome of the POGO annual meetings in Ensenada, Mexico (January 2024) and in Penang, Malaysia (February 2025).

CONCEPT NOTE

Rationale:

  1. POGO brings together the major ocean research institutions of the world with a focus on the implementation of an international and integrated global ocean observing system. They are also training the next generation of ocean scientists and strive for a more ocean literate society.
  2. Oceanographic observations are needed to address a wide range of multi- and interdisciplinary topics, including fundamental drivers of ocean circulation, understanding ecosystem behaviour and its response to climate change, causes of and implications of polar ice cap decline, and implications of ocean warming on sea level, weather and climate. Ships are used for full-depth comprehensive reference inventories of the ocean through repeat hydrography lines, calibration and validation of autonomous platforms, calibration and validation of satellites, to deploy and recover moorings and mobile assets, and to carry out large-scale, intensive process studies which generate impactful new understanding and are used to further iterate and evolve the strategies for sustained ocean observing.
  3. Given increasing concern over global warming caused by anthropogenic activities that release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, many countries and other ‘actors’ have formulated plans to achieve “Net Zero” carbon emissions in the timescale of 20 to 30 years. Ocean science is intrinsically linked to Net Zero carbon objectives since the oceans are major sinks of anthropogenic carbon and the excess heat caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gases.
  4. However, research vessels are a major contributor to the carbon emissions of most of the leading research institutions of the world that are carrying out ocean observing. As such, there is considerable pressure to develop low carbon alternatives to current ocean observing platforms and vessels. This includes the use of alternative fuels for research vessels, but also maximising data collection opportunities through the use of vessels of opportunity, as well as autonomy.
  5. Following thematic discussion sessions at the POGO annual meetings in Ensenada, Mexico (January 2024) and in Penang, Malaysia (February 2025), it was decided that POGO should establish a Working Group to focus on environmentally sustainable ocean observing.

Guiding Principles:

  • The POGO membership is in a strong position to form an advocacy group to generate discussion between researchers and stakeholders on the topic of environmentally sustainable ocean observing.
  • POGO is not the only organisation occupying this space, and the Working Group should not replicate any of the work already undertaken on the subject of sustainable ocean observing and Net Zero approaches, but work with stakeholder organisations.
  • The Net Zero landscape is changing fast, and any Working Group outputs need to be ‘living’ (i.e., editable, version-controlled) documents.

Proposed Outputs:

The following initial actions were proposed during the POGO-26 Meeting:

  • Hosting a webinar on sustainable ocean observations, with a focus on ship technologies and alternative fuels.
  • Producing a short summary document of current strategies and plans from the POGO membership organisations.
  • Reaching out to the broader stakeholder community, including International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), International Research Ship Operators group (IRSO), International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the G7 Future of the Seas and Ocean Initiative (G7 FSOI).

Status: Active Working group

Year: 2025 onwards

Working group Participants

Leader

  • Kate Hendry, British Antarctic Survey, UK
  • Han Dolman, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ)

Participants

  • Carlos Cabrera/Edgar Pavia, Oceanology Division of The Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education at Ensenada (CICESE), Mexico
  • Xavier Capet, LOCEAN, France
  • Johannes Karstensen, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany
  • Tao Lian/Zhou Feng, Second Institute of Oceanography, China
  • Eric Machu, Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement (IRD), France
  • Yasuhiro Namba, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Japan
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