The Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean (POGO) was founded in 1999 by directors of oceanographic institutions around the world as a forum to promote and advance the observation of the global ocean. POGO is a UK-registered charity with member institutions from around the world, and works closely with other international and regional programmes and organisations.
POGO seeks to expand international support for ocean observing, through innovation of the ocean observing system, capacity development and outreach/advocacy.
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The POGO Sustainable Environmentally Aware Ocean Observing Working Group (SEA-OBS WG) was established as an outcome of the POGO annual meetings in Ensenada, Mexico (January 2024) and in Penang, Malaysia (February 2025). CONCEPT NOTE Rationale: Guiding Principles: Proposed Outputs: The following initial actions were proposed during the POGO-26 Meeting:
The POGO Advocacy Working Group was established as an outcome of the 6th POGO AGM, held in Toulouse in January 2023, as a way for POGO to actively engage in key global discussions and highlight the critical importance of ocean observation. Since then, the WG has drafted or contributed to statements for four major international
Advocacy Working Group Read More »
Strengthening the OBIS Network for Latin America and the Caribbean (OBIS-LAC) Despite being one of the most megadiverse regions in the world, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) face persistent challenges in building robust, sustainable marine biodiversity data infrastructures. Economic constraints, fragmented data landscapes, and limited technical capacity prevent the region from realising its full
Coastal Marine Heatwave Interdisciplinary Research group (CMHIR) Overview Background and rationale Our understanding about the drivers, processes and teleconnections that cause large-scale marine heatwaves (MHWs) has substantially improved (Holbrook et al. 2019, 2020). However, the implications of MHWs on the inner continental shelf are much less understood, despite the ecological importance and the relevance of
Action for Sustainable Ocean Acidification Research (ASOAR) Overview Scientific rationale, societal benefits and policy relevance Changes in carbonate chemistry, termed ‘Ocean Acidification’ (OA), and the biological impacts this causes, don’t occur uniformly, but instead vary regionally across a range of spatial scales. The Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network (GOA-ON) highlighted this and identified a pressing
Action for Sustainable Ocean Acidification Research (ASOAR) Read More »
CEODOS Chile: A consortium for surveying the coastal ocean in the eastern South Pacific Overview The CEODOS program (co-coordinated by the COPAS center) is a new chilean initiative that will follow the present and future status of the biological pump along the entire coast of Chile every 5 years. There is a global agreement in
Overview Monitoring is key to numerical modelling efforts for predicting hurricanes and frontal systems, assessing and sustaining ecosystem health and function, managing marine resources, optimising restoration efforts and assessing anthropogenic impacts from climate change, eutrophication, loss of biodiversity, deoxygenation, acidification, overfishing and sea level rise. However, when in situ monitoring efforts are examined at a basin or
Gulf of Mexico Oceanographic and Meteorological Observation Group (GMOMOG) Read More »
BEACON – Capacity building for Biochemical obsErvation of AnthropogeniC pollutiOn, tropical traNsitional waters Background & Rationale There is a need to build capacity to monitor human activities (e.g., pollution) on benthic communities and chemical tracers within the biota and sediment in the coastal waters of the Gulf of Guinea. The capacity building will increase access
Overview The meridional overturning circulation (MOC) in the Atlantic is a key element of the time-variable coupled climate system and may have played a significant role in the subsurface sequestration of heat during the recent global warming hiatus. New in the observing systems monitoring this event is the SAMOC (South Atlantic MOC) Basin Wide Array (SAMBA). Extending from South America
Overview The issue of how noise affects marine mammals in all oceans is a global issue affecting governments, industries, and conservation interests. There have been significant recent developments in technology, research, and increasingly broad spatial and temporal scales over which we can monitor ocean animals and ocean sound using acoustic sensors. A diversity of approaches
International Quiet Ocean Experiment (IQOE): Implement Science Recommendations Read More »
Overview While changes in the Southern Ocean have widespread consequences for the planet, the paucity of observations in this part of the ocean hinders research. The OASIIS working group aims to develop a detailed implementation plan for an under-ice observing system. This truly global consortium led by Richard Coleman, the Institute for Marine and Antarctic
Observing and Understanding the Ocean below Antarctic Sea Ice and Ice Shelves (OASIIS) Read More »
Overview Macroalgal forests (dominated by kelp and fucoid brown algae) are iconic on rocky reefs around the world’s temperate coasts. These highly productive and diverse ecosystems provide many important functions and services including provision of nursery areas, human food resources, and protection from coastal erosion. Macroalgal forests are vulnerable to global threats such as ocean
Overview Several million cases of water-associated disease are reported globally each year from water-borne or vector-borne pathogens. A large number of cases may be avoided through improved access to clean water and sanitation, and more cases could be prevented by improving prediction of disease outbreaks and health risks, using an integrated approach involving in-situ observations,
Earth Observation for Ecology and Epidemiology of Water-associated Diseases Read More »
Overview Monitoring biodiversity in the oceans is a global requirement under COP, GEOBON, GOOS etc. Changes in biodiversity of phytoplankton and zooplankton are key EOVs to measure, because they regulate critical ecosystem goods and services. Phytoplankton are the base of the oceanic food web and zooplankton are the intermediate trophic levels linking phytoplankton to fish.
DNA sampling tools for the global CPR Survey Read More »