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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Ocean Observation
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1466820

A first scoring approach for evaluating the European Ocean Observing Community

Provisionally accepted
Abed El Rahman Hassoun Abed El Rahman Hassoun 1*Toste Tanhua Toste Tanhua 1Emma Heslop Emma Heslop 2Inga Lips Inga Lips 3Marta Álvarez Marta Álvarez 4George Petihakis George Petihakis 5Maribel I. García-Ibáñez Maribel I. García-Ibáñez 6Dimitris Velaoras Dimitris Velaoras 7Michele Giani Michele Giani 8Hermann W. Bange Hermann W. Bange 1Christian Lønborg Christian Lønborg 9Johannes Karstensen Johannes Karstensen 1
  • 1 GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel, Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (HZ), Kiel, Germany
  • 2 Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO), Paris, France
  • 3 European Global Ocean Observing System, Brussels, Belgium
  • 4 Oceanographic Center of A Coruña, Spanish Institute of Oceanography, A Coruña, Spain
  • 5 Institute of Oceanography, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Crete, Greece
  • 6 Centre Oceanogràfico de les Balears, Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO, CSIC), Palma, Spain
  • 7 Institute of Oceanography, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Athens, Attiki, Greece
  • 8 National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (Italy), Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy
  • 9 Section for Marine Diversity and Experimental Ecology, Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark, Roskilde, Denmark

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The European Ocean Observing Community (EOOC) integrates inputs from diverse entities dedicated to comprehensively monitoring and forecasting oceanic phenomena in European Seas. With increasing climate and anthropogenic pressures, the urgency of ensuring the EOOC's preparedness to observe Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) is evident. This paper advocates for the adoption of a scoring approach designed to evaluate the readiness of the EOOC in observing and forecasting key ocean phenomena. The proposed scoring methodology can be applied at both European and potentially regional and/or national levels, and emerges as a transformative tool for scrutinizing the EOOC's capability to predict and monitor key ocean phenomena. Our findings, based on the application of the scoring approach, suggest that while the community demonstrates commendable readiness levels for certain oceanic phenomena, 83% remain in developing stages, oscillating between "Idea" and "Trial" readiness levels. A closer examination exposes critical shortages predominantly in the coordination and observational facets (Process), and data management and information products (Output). The implications of these identified gaps reach far beyond academic realms, profoundly affecting diverse sectors and societal resilience (e.g., energy sector). The suggested scoring approach serves as a clear call for strategic investments and heightened support for the European observing community. By adopting a regular and systematic scoring methodology, we not only measure progress at present but also pave the way for a resilient and future-ready EOOC.

    Keywords: Ocean observing, Ocean forecasting, Scoring, Readiness level, European Seas 1. Introduction

    Received: 18 Jul 2024; Accepted: 13 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Hassoun, Tanhua, Heslop, Lips, Álvarez, Petihakis, García-Ibáñez, Velaoras, Giani, Bange, Lønborg and Karstensen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Abed El Rahman Hassoun, GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel, Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (HZ), Kiel, Germany

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.