The GEOWOW project aims to improve data discovery, access and usage and evolve GEOSS in terms of interoperability, standardization and functionality while specifically addressing three key application areas: weather, water and, ocean-ecosystems. The project includes 15 international partners and is coordinated by the European Space Agency.
A GEOSS perspective on Air Quality and Health in Europe: the EGIDA Methodology
The air quality issue is a multinational concern and GEOSS seems an ideal approach for connecting existing observing systems and for sharing data globally. Experiences from previous involvements in GEOSS by the air quality communities are discussed in this article and approaches for improving their sustainable contributions are suggested.
Fix acid oceans by dumping alkali in them? Forget it
– Suggestions that we can dump alkaline chemicals into the oceans to prevent acidification seems dead in the water – it would cost trillions of dollars.
Inquiry-to-Insight (I2I): An International Digital Environmental Education Project
The Inquiry-to-Insight (I2I) project, a collaboration between Gothenburg University in Sweden and Stanford University in California, offers an educational program combining information and communication technologies (ICT), social networking Internet communities, and pedagogy directed at learning about and envisioning solutions to global environmental issues.
From Ocean Sensors to Traceable Knowledge by Harmonizing Ocean Observing Systems
This article provides a review of some initiatives of global and local focus and application of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) guidelines to ocean observatories. The authors address scenarios in real ocean observing facilities–the European Seas Observatory Network, the European Multidisciplinary Seafloor Observation (ESONET-EMSO), the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN) infrastructure and deep sea observatory in the Canary Islands, and the Expandable Seafloor Observatory (OBSEA) shallow water Western-Mediterranean observatory of the Technical University of Catalonia.
Third Symposium on The Ocean in a High-CO2 World
The third symposium on The Ocean in a High-CO2 World will convene in autumn 2012 in Monterey, California. The symposium will explore the impacts of ocean acidification on marine organisms, ecosystems, and biogeochemical cycles as well as cover socio-economic consequences of ocean acidification, including policy and management implications.
EuroSITES Open Ocean Observatory Network: Monitoring Europe’s Open Ocean
The recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, hurricane and tsunami disasters and ocean ‘health’ issues including ocean acidification highlight the importance of ocean observing systems. The authors provide overview current European (EuroSITES) and international (OceanSITES) initiatives and the growing need for high quality, high resolution ocean datasets to feed models and produce products and services to society.