Francesca Santoro has been working in the field of ocean science and ocean management since the year 2000. Since then she has worked for a number of European research centres and universities (University of Venice, Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change, University of Maastricht, European Commission Joint Research Centre). In March 2011 she joined the IOC serving the Ocean Science Section and the Tsunami Unit. At IODE Francesca will be working on the Sea Change project which aims at promoting Ocean Literacy in Europe and ECOPOTENTIAL, on the use of earth observation for mapping and modeling ecosystem services in protected areas. In both projects Francesca will be in charge of science-policy interface and of capacity development.
Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE) that took place in the early 1960s, the IOC together with the Scientific Committee for Oceanic Research (SCOR) and the Indian Ocean GOOS (IOGOOS) will launch the 2nd International Indian Ocean Expedition Programme (IIOE-2) on 4 December 2015. It is expected that this programme will provide an exciting platform for knowledge transfer and capacity building, raising global awareness about the importance of the Indian Ocean. It will create an immense opportunity for scientists from Indian Ocean rim countries and elsewhere to truly collaborate on advanced ocean research. Planning started in 2011 and the IOC Assembly at its 28th Session in June 2015 formally endorsed its participation in IIOE-2 in partnership with SCOR and IOGOOS and also accepted the SCOR Science Plan Development Committee's IIOE-2 Science Plan as the science framework for IIOE-2. Between 19-21 October 2015 the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (ESSO-INCOIS) in Hyderabad hosted the Implementation Plan drafting workshop. Attended by members of the Interim Planning Committee (IPC) and the Editorial group that assists the IPC. The meeting reviewed the 8 key chapters of the implementation plan including Governance, Science and Research, Data and Information Management, Capacity Development, Operational Coordination, Outreach and Communication, Translating Science for Society, and Sponsorship and Resources. The Plan includes specific objectives for each chapter and associated concrete actions that will underpin and facilitate the implementation of the Science Plan. The Chapter on Data and Information Management was prepared by the IODE Co-Chair Ms Cyndy Chandler supported by the IODE Secretariat and was well received. The Plan will be finalised to be presented during the official launch of the IIOE-2 on 4 December 2015 in Goa, India. The IIOE-2 will be supported by an International Project Office Framework with its two key nodes in Hyderabad and Perth respectively. For more information contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna based in Akureyri, Iceland (CAFF) is the biodiversity working group of the Arctic Council and consists of National Representatives assigned by each of the eight Arctic Council Member States, representatives of Indigenous Peoples' organizations that are Permanent Participants to the Council, and Arctic Council observer countries and organizations. CAFF's mandate is to address the conservation of Arctic biodiversity, and to communicate its findings to the governments and residents of the Arctic, helping to promote practices which ensure the sustainability of the Arctic’s living resources. It does so through various monitoring, assessment and expert group activities. We welcome CAFF to the IODE family! More on http://www.caff.is
Semantic web is considered as the platform on which Web 3.0 is being built. Web 3.0, makes it possible for machines to understand the relationships between information served across various domains. One of the main benefits of this is that the served information is optimized to user needs. At the recently concluded, First Session of the IODE Steering Group for OceanKnowledge Project, it was decided to make IODE data and information available to the Semantic web. A single point access to major IODE projects will be built as a part of this project. More on the proposed design, work plan and other details can be accessed through the report of the meeting available HERE.
The First Session of the IODE Steering Group for the OceanKnowledge Project, was held in Oostende, Belgium from 12th-14th October, 2015. OceanKnowlege Project aims at consolidating information from various IODE projects such as OceanExpert, OceanDocs, OceanDataPractices, IODE Events, OceanTeacher, OceanDataPortal and OBIS. This consolidated products will present the users with a single window access to all the IODE data and information products. This project will use concepts in semantic web technologies. One of the aims of the project will be to promote Linked Open Data (LOD) by publically publishing data from IODE products in a machine readable and reusable RDF format. The meeting was attended by 14 participants including project representatives of all the participating products. Ms. Pauline Simpson was elected as the Chair of the group and Mr. Adi Kakodkar as the Project Manager.
Three new IODE Associate Data Units have been formally established in Colombia: Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia, Fundacion Universidad de Bogota Jorge Tadeo Lozano, and Marine and Coastal Research Institute (INVEMAR). More information on these new partners on http://www.iode.org/adu
On July 21, 2015, NCEI has released a global ocean currents database (GOCD) that aims 1) to integrate global ocean currents observations from a variety of instruments with different resolution, accuracy and response to spatial and temporal variability into a uniform network common data form (NetCDF) format and 2) to provide a dedicated online data discovery, access to NCEI-hosted and distributed data sources for ocean currents data. The GOCD provides a tailored web application that allows users to search for ocean currents data by platform types and spatial/temporal ranges of their interest. The dedicated web application, called the GOCD Portal, is available at http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/gocd/index.html . [info from Charles Sun]
Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE) that took place in the early 1960s, the IOC together with the Scientific Committee for Oceanic Research (SCOR) and the Indian Ocean GOOS (IOGOOS) will launch the 2nd International Indian Ocean Expedition Programme (IIOE-2) on 4 December 2015. It is expected that this programme will provide an exciting platform for knowledge transfer and capacity building, raising global awareness about the importance of the Indian Ocean. It will create an immense opportunity for scientists from Indian Ocean rim countries and elsewhere to truly collaborate on advanced ocean research. Planning started in 2011 and the IOC Assembly at its 28th Session in June 2015 formally endorsed its participation in IIOE-2 in partnership with SCOR and IOGOOS and also accepted the SCOR Science Plan Development Committee's IIOE-2 Science Plan as the science framework for IIOE-2. Between 19-21 October 2015 the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (ESSO-INCOIS) in Hyderabad hosted the Implementation Plan drafting workshop. Attended by members of the Interim Planning Committee (IPC) and the Editorial group that assists the IPC. The meeting reviewed the 8 key chapters of the implementation plan including Governance, Science and Research, Data and Information Management, Capacity Development, Operational Coordination, Outreach and Communication, Translating Science for Society, and Sponsorship and Resources. The Plan includes specific objectives for each chapter and associated concrete actions that will underpin and facilitate the implementation of the Science Plan. The Chapter on Data and Information Management was prepared by the IODE Co-Chair Ms Cyndy Chandler supported by the IODE Secretariat and was well received. The Plan will be finalised to be presented during the official launch of the IIOE-2 on 4 December 2015 in Goa, India. The IIOE-2 will be supported by an International Project Office Framework with its two key nodes in Hyderabad and Perth respectively. For more information contact 
Complete Overview, Agenda, Documents and Participants