Building the Regional Component of the Integrated Ocean Observing System

Within the layered Integrated Ocean Observing Systems (IOOS) framework, the recent Pew Commission report and the U.S. Ocean Commission report introduced the regional observing concept to merge ocean and coastal issues and activities such as climate change impacts, effects of natural hazards, and protecting and restoring healthy coastal ecosystems. From these reports, regionally designed and managed observing activities, such as researchers investigating coastal processes, have been developed. Common data exchange protocols assure compatibility while preserving innovation and regional sensitivity. The data may have different uses for other users, thus data sharing improves the interconnectivity within IOOS.