Study on costs, benefits and nature of an extended European Ocean Observing System

The vision for a European Ocean Observation System (EOOS) is “a coordinating framework designed to align and integrate Europe’s ocean observing capacity in the long-term; to promote a systematic and collaborative approach to collecting sustained information on the state and variability of our seas; and to underpin sustainable management of the marine environment and its resources” as set out in a consultation by European Marine Board and European Global Ocean Observing System (EuroGOOS) (European Marine Board and EuroGOOS, 2016). The Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) programme has a framework for ocean observation, which includes the defintion of essential ocean variables (EOV). The EOV are expected to be collected as a minimum requirement of the EOOS and are divided into three broad domains; physics, biogeochemistry and biology and ecosystems, of the three domains the physics and biogeochemistry variables are the most established, with many of the biological and ecosystem variables still emerging. As a consequence, many of the activities identified in this report focused on the more mature physics and biogeochemistry domains.