Ocean Science in the Next Decade

Hosted by the International Ocean Institute and the China State Oceanographic Administration this latest PIM conference provide a forum for intergovernmental, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, scientists and experts to address the challenges of oceans and impacts of climate change on coastal cities and global economies. Over 270 delegates from 30 countries celebrated 50 years of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and discussed key topics on Oceans and Climate Change, the Role of the Oceans in Sustainable Development and Challenges to Coastal Cities.

In the plenary session held in the historic Grand Ballroom of the famous Beijing Hotel Richard outlined that oceanographic instrumentation has traditionally been developed within academic centres of excellence in order to provide answers to challenging scientific questions. There are many examples of industry working with scientists to commercialize these technologies and make them available on a global scale, such as the Chelsea AQUAshuttle and SeaSoar towed oceanographic vehicles.

However future requirements may be very different. There is a huge demand for in situ data support climate change studies. This requires large, distributed networks of sensors and systems that provide real time data. Such sensors must be small, low cost, have long extended lifetimes and be highly robust. Chelsea's new range of high performance miniature fluorimeters have been developed as a low cost solution to meet these requirements.

A diverse range of deployment platforms will be used. Gliders, buoys and profilers will continue to provide important data. However more widespread use should be made of commercial shipping, particularly for gathering water column data as demonstrated by the SCOR OceanScope programme. FerryBox systems (such as Chelsea's AquaLine FerryBox System) are a well-established method of obtaining surface water data from ferries and ships but systems for unattended, detailed water column profiles will present new technology challenges.

There will be exciting technology advances as new sensors are developed. The IOC is well placed to identify future requirements and facilitate the introduction of new systems and meet the new challenges to oceans and coastal cities.