Ocean.US

Development Plans

Low-Res Hi-Res (5.11 MB) (32.77 MB)

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Final draft (4.91MB) (in press)

On behalf of the former National Ocean Research Leadership Council (NORLC), Ocean.US and its former Executive Committee (EXCOM) completed the First Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Development Plan in December 2004 following the First IOOS Implementation Conference. The plan was approved at the Cabinet level by the Interagency Committee on Ocean Science and Resource Management Integration (ICOSRMI) in January 2006. The First IOOS Development Plan addresses many of the recommendations of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, including those for establishing an IOOS with an emphasis on regional development, developing capacity for ecosystem-based management and linking IOOS data and information to applications. The First IOOS Development Plan recommends pre-operational and operational federal programs for building the global component and the initial National Backbone of the IOOS. The global component of the plan is drawn from international plans developed under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC). In addition, the plan provides a road map for implementing Data Management and Communications (DMAC) for the IOOS as a whole and provides a framework and guidelines for developing Regional Associations (RAs) and the Regional Coastal Ocean Observing Systems that RAs will develop.

The Addendum to the First IOOS Development Plan, currently in press, updates and prioritizes recommendations in the first plan by focusing on requirements for improving forecasts of coastal inundation and mitigating the ecological and socioeconomic impacts of coastal inundation. The Addendum is based on recommendations by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy; the President&undefined;s Ocean Action Plan (released after the completion of the First IOOS Development Plan); results of the Second IOOS Implementation Conference; the U.S. Integrated Earth Observing System (IEOS) Strategic Plan; reports of the National Science and Technology Council (Natural Disaster Reduction: A Plan for the Nation, 1996; Grand Challenges for Disaster Reduction, 2005); and guidance from the former Ocean.US EXCOM.

Emphasizing the implementation of the observing subsystem for the National Backbone of the coastal component and the DMAC and modeling subsystems for the IOOS as a whole, recommendations in the Addendum focus those of the First IOOS Development Plan onto phased implementation of multi-hazard forecasting and mitigation capabilities.