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Summary ReportAN IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
FOR THE INITIAL PHASE
OF THE NORTH-EAST ASIAN REGIONAL GOOS (NEAR-GOOS)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
2. GOALS, SCIENTIFIC BASIS, AND OBJECTIVES OF NEAR-GOOS
5.1 NEAR-GOOS CO-ORDINATING COMMITTEE
5.2 NEAR-GOOS CO-ORDINATOR
5.3SECRETARIAT
5.4 FINANCIAL COMMITMENTS
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Summary Report
1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
Substantial progress in ocean modeling, and in situ observation techniques and telecommunications, and remote sensing technology now makes an ocean observing system possible. Such a system can produce maps and forecasts of oceanographic conditions similar to those produced by meteorological activities. Although many ocean processes are strongly influenced by atmospheric forcing, their spatial scales are much smaller than those of the atmosphere one. Thus, the system requires oceanographic data collected as frequently as meteorological observations with much fine spatial resolutions, so it is most feasible to be established first for semi-enclosed seas. Such a system can contribute to regional ocean services, management of coastal areas, climate prediction, management of marine living resources, disaster prevention and preserving the health of the ocean, which coincide with ultimate goals of Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS).
The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) has initiated GOOS in co-operation with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU). It is important to demonstrate the usefulness of a regional ocean observing system by first establishing a pilot system
with the co-operation of countries in a particular region to encourage such efforts for the rest of the world as a strategy of GOOS. The marginal seas in the North East Asian region have been chosen for such a regional GOOS pilot activity because of the available capabilities of the countries involved to collect and exchange oceanographic data in real or near real-time.
At its 27th Session (Paris, November 1993), the General Conference of UNESCO adopted Resolution 57 which called on IOC to establish a GOOS regional pilot activity in the North-East Asian region. Pursuant to the Resolution, IOC organized in 1994 two expert meetings (in Beijing, 16-18 August, and Bali, 19-21 November) to define the framework for the project. Following these consultations, a draft proposal was prepared for an operational demonstration: North-East Asian Regional GOOS (NEAR-GOOS).
The experts confirmed that the first step of the NEAR-GOOS should be the establishment of an efficient data exchange scheme for the existing observing systems in the region. The present capabilities could them be expanded as the system develops by improving the spatial and temporal resolution through international co-operation. In the course of the expert discussions, it was emphasized that the project be officially endorsed by participating countries and that responsible organizations for the project within each participating country be designated.
Following review by the participants in the above-mentioned expert meetings, the proposal was submitted to the Intergovernmental Committee for GOOS (I-GOOS) Strategy Sub-Committee Meeting on 27-30 March 1995 in Geneva. The parallel informal session on NEAR-GOOS suggested that an ad hoc group be nominated by the Chairman of the IOC Sub-Commission for WESTPAC to draft an implementation plan for NEAR-GOOS. The group consists of four experts: Y. Xu (China), K. Taira (Japan), D.-Y. Lee (Korea) and V.E. Ryabinin (Russia). Dr. Taira was invited to be the leader of the group.
A draft of the implementation plan was discussed at informal meetings during I-GOOS-II and the Eighteenth Session of the IOC Assembly, both in June 1995. During these sessions, broad interest was shown in NEAR-GOOS as an effective means to implement the global GOOS concept at a regional level. A NEAR-GOOS Workshop was held at Pusan, Republic of Korea, in April 1995, in which various activities in the NEAR-GOOS region were reviewed. Another NEAR-GOOS Workshop was held at Matsue, Japan, in November 1995, where the scientific goals of NEAR-GOOS and data service system were discussed.
At its 28th Session (Paris, November 1995), the General Conference of UNESCO adopted Resolution 138 which calls on IOC to continue its effort to establish NEAR-GOOS with an eventual goal of expanding it to the entire WESTPAC region.
The Draft Proposal by the ad hoc group was reviewed and revised by the Expanded ad hoc Meeting for the NEAR-GOOS Implementation Plan in the IOC Regional Secretariat, Bangkok, 8-10 January 1996, resulting in the present proposal.
2. GOALS, SCIENTIFIC BASIS, AND OBJECTIVES OF NEAR-GOOS
2.1 Goals
The goals of the North-East Asian Regional GOOS (NEAR-GOOS) are as follows:
(i) to improve ocean services in the region;
(ii) to provide data and information useful in the mitigation of the effects of natural disasters caused by waves, storm surges, and sea-ice;
(iii) to increase the efficiency of fishing vessels;
(iv) to provide information useful in pollution monitoring;
(v) to monitor parameters useful to mariculture, particularly with regard to harmful algal blooms;
(vi) to provide information on the health of the coastal zone for recreation purposes;
(vii) to provide data sets required for data assimilation, modeling and forecasting.
2.2 Scientific basis
The process directly induced by atmospheric forcing, such as winds, waves, storm surges, and wind-induced surface current, can be modeled with provision of the proper atmospheric forcing. The prediction accuracy of the models relies on the improvement of estimation of the wind at the ocean surface.
Variations in temperature, salinity and current, and distribution of chemical substances in the regional seas, have rather small scales in space and time. For instance, the width of the Kuroshio, a major current in the area, is of a few tens of kilometers, and resolution of a few kilometers is necessary to describe the structure of the Kuroshio. Recent studies have revealed that variations of current and temperature have a dominant periodicity of 10 to 20 days. Bimonthly or 10-day mapping of temperature and currents, presently made by several national agencies, is not sufficient to describe their continuous time evolution. A daily mapping of oceanographic conditions is requisite.
Present techniques for data assimilation can generate uniform mapping even from limited numbers of in situ data by making use of remote sensing data. Data assimilation made from the daily data set is useful for ocean services and other applications.
Physical processes in semi-enclosed seas are governed not only by local forcing such as surface fluxes from the atmosphere and mass fluxes from rivers, but also by water exchange with outer regions. The volume flux can now be estimated from sea level differences, satellite measurements by altimeter, electric measurement by submarine cables, and other means on a daily basis. Accurate forecasting of oceanographic conditions is at hand, but forecasting also needs a timely supply of in situ data.
Long-term observations are currently the only way to ascertain trends and low frequency variability of the ocean. There is a crucial need for robust and reliable data management system on a regional scale because of the quantity of data required.
2.3 Objectives
The initial objectives are to establish a real-time data base and a delayed mode data base for NEAR-GOOS, which are operationally closely linked. The oceanographic data are reported to the NEAR-GOOS Real-Time Data Base through the GTS (Global Telecommunication System, WMO), or directly by electronic means. The whole data sets are to be transferred on a periodic basis from the Real-time data base to the NEAR-GOOS Delayed Mode data base. The two data bases are accessible by the participating countries and other countries through an electronic mail system.
3. APPROACH TO NEAR-GOOS
3.1 AREA OF NEAR-GOOS
The area of NEAR-GOOS is the North-East Asian region, which is a part of the WESTPAC region, bounded by China, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation along its western boundary, and by the Russian Federation and Japan along the eastern boundary. (See Annex I)
3.2 PRINCIPLE
(i) The participating countries recognize the importance of regional co operation, in particular in the North-East Asian region, for ocean observing and research activities, within the framework of the Global Ocean Observing System;
(ii) Each participating country shall designate responsible organizations to participate in NEAR-GOOS;
(iii) Each participating country shall implement NEAR GOOS in co-operation with IOC and the other organizations co-sponsoring GOOS;
(iv) The participating countries shall promote human resource training activities within the WESTPAC region, with specific objectives that the covering area of the project and the number of the participating countries should be expanded as well as the observational network improved;
(v) The data obtained within the context of NEAR-GOOS shall be made available to the Data Bases, and shall be accessible to other countries within the framework of GOOS. To promote the exchange of data between the regions within the framework of GOOS, the participating countries shall co-operate with other regional activities related to GOOS. The evaluation of the operation of NEAR-GOOS, shall be reported regularly to the governing bodies of IOC through I-GOOS and WESTPAC Sub-Commission;
(vi) All IOC -and particularly WESTPAC- Member States, are encouraged to participate in NEAR-GOOS through the submission of data and use of the NEAR-GOOS data bases.
3.3 DATA
The oceanographic data for NEAR-GOOS are temperature, salinity, currents, waves, sea-level, dissolved oxygen, nutrients, and other hydrographic elements.
The data for NEAR-GOOS are of three different types: in situ, remotely sensed, and derived from models. Collection of field data in real-time is very expensive. It also has limitation in space and time for the operational service, which can be overcome by means of in-directed method of data producing, such as remote sensing technologies and numerical modeling. They are complementary to each other, and will enhance the operational capability.
The NEAR-GOOS region is one of the most densely and frequently surveyed areas in the world. Observations by research vessels have taken place routinely along sections for more than 50 years. Human activities in the region are extensive; thus, the need for environmental monitoring is crucial.
Ocean monitoring activities in the region include:
(i) In situ data
- by moored surface buoys, drifting buoys, towers, coastal stations, research vessels, and voluntary observation ships;
(ii) Remote sensed data
- geostationary and polar-orbiting meteorological satellites, and earth observation satellites.
In NEAR-GOOS, data are to be transmitted through the GTS of WMO or electronic means to the NEAR-GOOS Real-Time data base. The data from those sources will be stored in a bin on a daily basis for on-line access by NEAR-GOOS users through e-mail service or other direct access. The data in the data base will be kept for a certain period, most probably for 30 days. After that the stored data will be transferred to the NEAR-GOOS Delayed Mode data base. Detailed oceanographic data, such as temperature and salinity at every 2 db from CTD casts and records of moored current meters, are submitted to the National Oceanographic Data Centers of IODE (International Ocean Data and Information Exchange, of the IOC) and eventually to the NEAR-GOOS Delayed Mode data base, together with data on chemical tracers such as dissolved oxygen, nutrients and others. All archived data are to be accessible by the users through an on-line access system.
The corresponding data flow is shown in Annex 2.
The implementation of NEAR-GOOS will require the collection of oceanographic data, as well as marine meteorological and other data. The marine meteorological data will be exchanged through the GTS of the World Weather Watch (WWW). The meteorological data are also required for diagnostic models and for prediction models. For the modeling needs, the oceanographic community should depend on the meteorological community for the meteorological data, because one of the goals of GOOS is to establish a WWW equivalent for oceanography.
4. INITIAL PHASE
NEAR-GOOS will be implemented based on this plan, and a detailed Operational Manual prepared by the Co-ordinating Committee of NEAR-GOOS, which will be developed after discussion of the NEAR-GOOS Implementation Plan during the Third Session of the IOC Sub-Commission for WESTPAC from 26 February - 1 March 1996 in Tokyo.
It is recommended that the initial phase start with basic oceanographic variables, such as temperature, salinity, current and wind waves, and reported in real-time. When the on-line data base is prepared, the reporters can access their own data as well as those data reported internationally each day. It is expected that a rapid increase in data reports will be achieved by the system. The products from the data can be prepared by users for their own purposes. It is intended that NEAR-GOOS be a good demonstration of the capabilities of operational oceanography.
The outline of the NEAR-GOOS Real-time data base and the NEAR-GOOS Delayed Mode data base, proposed by the Japan Meteorological Agency and the Japan Ocean Data Center is shown in Annex III.
5. INFRASTRUCTURE
5.1 NEAR-GOOS CO-ORDINATING COMMITTEE
Terms of Reference:
(i) Nature:
A Co-ordinating Committee is hereby established as a management body of NEAR-GOOS, for periodic review of the implementation of the overall system.
(ii) Composition:
The Committee will consist of representatives of all participating countries. Each country will designate two members who should be able to monitor data flow to the NEAR-GOOS Real- time and Delayed Mode data bases. The Committee will elect a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman among the members. The Chairman of the Co-ordinating Committee will serve as the NEAR-GOOS Co-ordinator. The committee shall meet in regular annual sessions. Non-participating countries can attend the sessions as observers.
(iii) Responsibility:
The NEAR-GOOS Co-ordinating Committee will:
(a) prepare Operation Manuals for the data bases;
(b) review access to and data reporting by the participating countries and others;
(c) review the project area, parameters, data standards and formats, and advise and make recommendations to the participating countries;
(d) review the data and information infrastructure and allocation of observing platforms by the participating countries and advise on possible improvements.
The Committee reports to the participating countries as well as to the IOC-Sub-Commission for WESTPAC.
The Committee co-ordinates the preparation of an annual report of NEAR-GOOS for distribution to the participating countries. This report will be retained in the Data Base for reference by the registered users.
5.2 NEAR-GOOS CO-ORDINATOR
The NEAR-GOOS Co-ordinator will register the users of the NEAR-GOOS data bases along the application form.
5.3 SECRETARIAT
The IOC Regional Secretariat for WESTPAC will support the Committee.
5.4 FINANCIAL COMMITMENTS
The participating countries and users are responsible for costs associated with access to Data Bases and their contribution to the NEAR-GOOS data report.
The participating countries will endeavor to cover the financial requirement of NEAR-GOOS related activities, directly or through voluntary contributions to the IOC Trust Fund. IOC will facilitate its financial allocation for NEAR-GOOS as a regional project under the framework of GOOS and NEAR-GOOS related activities in co-operation with other co-sponsoring organizations of GOOS.
REAL-TIME DATA BASE IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FOR NEAR-GOOS
Japan Meteorological Agency
In the framework of NEAR-GOOS, a data base for oceanographic data exchanged over the Global Telecommunication System (GTS) as well as the data reported via non-GTS telecommunication means (i.e. Internet) is being planned (see Fig.1).
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) which operates a Regional Telecommunication Hub (RTH) of GTS and serves as a Specialized Oceanographic Center of IOC/WMO Integrated Global Ocean Services System (IGOSS) will operate the Real-time Database to collect oceanographic data in the NEAR-GOOS area and to distribute them within 30 days after collection. Data exchanged beyond 30 days after collection are transferred to the NEAR-GOOS Delayed Mode data base.
Oceanographic data exchanged over the GTS are captured by the Computer System for Meteorological Services (COSMETS) of the JAM, and are transferred to the NEAR-GOOS Real Time Data Base.
The following data reports in International Code Forms (established by WMO) are used for GTS transmission:
FM 13 SHIP: Report of surface observation from a sea station.
FM 18 BUOY: Report of a buoy observation.
FM 62 TRACKOB: Report of a marine surface observation along a ship's track.
FM 63 BATHY: Report of bathythermograph observation.
FM 64 TESAC: Temperature, salinity and current report from a sea station.
FM 92 GRIB: Processed data in the form of grid-point value expressed in binary form
Oceanographic data which are not exchanged over the GTS are reported to the NEAR-GOOS Real-time Data Base in the established international formats via internet by the data nodes/centers of member countries as well as by relevant organizations in Japan.
The World Wide Web (WWW) server enables users to browse and transfer data sets. A File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is also available. For the security of the data system, only registered users are permitted to access the data base.
Report from the NEAR-GOOS Real Time Data Base will be distributed to member countries, users, and relevant authorities on a regular basis. Reports will contain the status of data reporting number of access to the database as well as users requirements.
Fig. 1 NEAR-GOOS Real-time Database
DELAYED MODE DATA BASE IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FOR NEAR-GOOS
Japan Oceanographic Data Center, Maritime Safety Agency
The Japan Oceanographic Data Center (JODC) is a National Oceanographic Data Center within the framework of the International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) sponsored by the IOC.
JODC serves as the Responsible National Oceanographic Data Center (RNODC) for Integrated Global Oceanographic Service System (IGOSS) for WESTPAC and for Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) data. As a part of the RNODC-WESTPAC activities, JODC can effectively serve as the data center for NEAR-GOOS Delayed Mode Data Base.
The oceanographic data stored in the NEAR-GOOS Real Time Data Base will be transferred to the JODC Data On-line Service System (J-DOSS), the data service system at JODC, in a batch mode for archiving as Continuously Managed Database (CMD) combined with the detailed data submitted in a delayed mode. The J-DOSS is an on-line data service system using a relational data base which is linked to Internet. Those interested in JODC may access information from the JODC Home Page over Internet. JODC's World Wide Web server has been established so that those accessing the JODC Home Page can easily retrieve not only information such as cruise inventories but also data itself. The Home Page is linked to the J-DOSS, which enables subscribers of the JODC Home Page to directly operate the Oracle-based J-DOSS Regional Data Base Management System.
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