Lecture and side events of the 47th IOC-UNESCO Executive Council
The Executive Council provides an opportunity for parallel exchanges on current ocean-related issues. Below is a list of parallel events organized this year between 1 and 4 July 2014.
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IOC-UNESCO Roger Revelle Memorial Lecture
1 July 2014, 16:15 – 17:30, Room IV
The Executive Council of the Intergovernmental Ocenographic Commission (IOC-UNESCO) traditionally opens with a lecture named in honour of Roger Revelle, whose important contributions to the awareness of global change form the basis of many IOC initiatives today. This year's lecture: 'The CARIACO Ocean Time-Series Project: a window into oceanography in Venezuela', will be given by Dr José Marín Baumar Marín Espinoza and Dr Máyida El Souki.
Implementing the Galway Statement: trans-Atlantic Ocean Research Cooperation
1 July 2014, 17:30 – 18:30, Room VIII
Presenters: Sigi Gruber and Ana-Teresa Caetano (European Commission), Denis Hains and Alain Vézina (Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada - DFO), Craig McLean and Terry Schaefer (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - NOAA)
The "Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation", signed in May 2013, launched a Transatlantic Ocean Research Alliance between Canada, the European Union and the United States following the identification of convergences between their respective scientific agendas. Together they aim to build a capacity to understand and predict major Atlantic and Arctic processes, as well as the changes and risks they carry in relation to human activities and climate change. Such a capacity will focus efforts and provide an anchor for future transatlantic cooperation in this area. The commitments taken in Galway are being implemented and the initiative is gathering momentum.
However, in order to be able to understand and predict what is happening in the Atlantic and affecting all of us, we cannot be confined only to the Northern borders of the Atlantic. Therefore, the main objectives of this side event are to present the state of play in the implementation of the Galway Statement and to look towards the potential for this effort by Member States in the North and South Atlantic.
The Tropical Pacific Observing System: The 2020 Project
1 July 2014, 18:00 – 19:00, Room IX
Presentation by Neville Smith (Australia), GOOS Expert, co-chair of the TPOS 2020 project
Introducing the TPOS 2020 project, with the aim to oversee the transition of the observing system to an integrated and more robust and sustainable system through 2020 and beyond, to underpin critical research and climate services and provide a legacy for GOOS. We will discuss how IOC Member States can engage in the future observing system, both in its design and implementation.
Practical and operational considerations of adding sensors to submarine telecommunication cables
2 July 2014, 17:30 – 19:00, Room IV, followed by a vin d'honneur offered by NEXANS
By Nigel Bayliff, SIN Media Ltd.,on behalf of the ITU/IOC-UNESCO/WMO Joint Task Force to investigate the use of submarine telecommunications cables for ocean and climate monitoring and disaster warning.
Commercial submarine telecommunication cables crisscross hundreds of thousands of kilometers of the oceans' seafloor, providing the fundamental Internet and telecommunications infrastructure for mankind. These cables are now blind, deaf, and dumb to the environment surrounding them, and simply transport information between terminal stations near cities on the coasts. The vision is for these submarine cables to perceive their environment, and transmit these data to mankind.
When submarine cable repeaters, which amplify optical data as it travels across the ocean, are designed to include basic ocean observation sensors, this capability enables the possibility for extensive networks of sensors crossing the oceans at the seafloor. Incorporating such repeaters into future submarine telecommunications cable systems would lead over time to a progressive expansion of environmental monitoring. These sensory data are fundamental to ocean and climate monitoring for global change and for disaster risk reduction for tsunamis and earthquakes.
The ITU/IOC-UNESCO/WMO Joint Task Force, created in 2012, is advancing a strategy and roadmap to enable the availability of green cables equipped with scientific sensors for climate monitoring and disaster risk reduction (tsunamis). It is also analyzing the potential renovation and relocation of retired out-of-service cables.
The Ocean Literacy initiative: educating and informing on marine knowledge
3 July 2014, 12:30 – 13:30, Room VI
Ocean Literacy means understanding the ocean’s influence on you and your influence on the ocean. Ocean Literacy has been defined as one of the topics of the agenda of the Transatlantic Collaboration between the European Union, the United States of America, and Canada. This side event will present briefly the Ocean Literacy Initiative and the current and foreseen involvement of IOC in events and activities. Member States will be invited to discuss with the Secretariat about their potential interest and contribution in the initiatives, and if new ones could be proposed with them. The collaboration with the Education and the Communication and Information Sectors on OL will be presented as well.
Short videos from Peter Tuddenham, from the College of Exploration, one of the founders of the Ocean Literacy Initiative, and from the European Marine Science Educators Association (EMSEA) will be shown.
