Recent Submissions

  • IQuOD 5th Annual Workshop Report, 16-18 April, 2018, Oostende, IODE headquarters Belgium.

    Domingues, Catia; Goes, Marlos; Killick, Rachel; Reseghetti, Franco; Simoncelli, Simona; Castelao, Guilherme; Domingues, Catia; International Quality-Controlled Ocean Database (IQuOD) (2018)
    The historical archive of global ocean subsurface temperature contains a large proportion of poorly quality-controlled as well as biased data. As a result, efforts to analyze past ocean change and variability are confounded, as is the use of ocean data assimilation systems. Currently many data centers perform automated ‘quick and dirty QC’ – redoing the same job poorly many times around the world. There have been no previous efforts to form a clean and definitive and very much needed historical archive. No single group has the manpower and resources to do the job properly – thus international cooperation is needed. The IQuOD 5th Workshop goals are to: provide an overview of what has been completed as part of IQuOD interim product v0.1 and discuss what went well and what could be improved (e.g., integrity checks, traceability, roadblocks, etc) • To review/discuss task teams plans beyond v0.1 and workout a draft plan/timeline (to note roadblocks and resources required to overcome them) • To start planning for training/outreach activities • To plan for dissemination/feedback strategies for IQuOD datasets/related products.
  • “Blue Curriculum: a training session”: workshop report.

    Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO and UNESCO International Bureau of Education (UNESCO-IOC, 2022)
    In the context of the United Nations Ocean Conference in Lisbon, co-hosted by the Governments of Kenya and Portugal, the Ocean Literacy Dialogues week hosted this 3 hour workshop which was composed of interactive sessions to provide training, information, and tools for educational authorities, policy-makers, and curriculum developers. The “Blue Curriculum: A training Session” was organized considering the recently launched UNESCO publication “A new blue curriculum: a toolkit for policy-makers” which aims to support Member States to include Ocean Literacy in the national curriculum frameworks and educational policies around the world. The workshop was organized by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO) in collaboration with the International Bureau of Education (IBE-UNESCO) and supported by AXA XL.
  • UNESCO Ocean Programmes.

    Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (UNESCO-IOC, 2022)
    The ocean is where all life began – it shelters 157,000 known species and up to a million species that have yet to be discovered. Earth could not breathe without the ocean – this blue lung absorbs a quarter of global carbon dioxide emissions. In addition, 3 billion people, almost half of humanity, depend directly on the ocean for their livelihoods. Today, however, the future of the ocean is in jeopardy. Climate change is taking its toll. Waters are warming and becoming more acidic; ecosystems are suffering. Over the past 200 years, the planet has lost half of its coral reef cover, as well as three quarters of its mangrove forests. According to a UNESCO report, the ocean may soon stop absorbing carbon and emit it instead. This would be a disaster, to say the least. We cannot rise to these challenges if we remain ignorant of the ocean. Today, only 20% of the ocean’s depths have been explored, even though it covers 71% of the world’s surface. Ocean research remains poorly funded, only receiving a tiny fraction – an average of less than 2 per cent – of national research budgets. At a time when humans are setting their sights on Mars, we need to explore the ocean, the world’s least-known continent. We must redouble our efforts to understand these depths, so we can deliver lasting solutions to the threats they face. And, because the world has the ocean in common, the only effective way we can do this is through multilateralism. UNESCO works towards this goal. With its Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission joined by 150 Member States, and its expertise in the culture and education fields, UNESCO enables coordinated actions by governments, scientists, the private sector, civil society and other UN organizations. Together, we created the tsunami warnings system, we map the deep ocean, identify species, work to ensure that environmental education and ocean literacy are included in school curricula, and protect underwater heritage. UNESCO is also the guardian of unique ocean sites, which are home to critical biodiversity, geological processes and incomparable beauty. We now have 232 marine Biosphere Reserves and 50 marine World Heritage sites of Outstanding Universal Value across the globe. But there is still a lot to do. Today, UNESCO is ramping up this collective mobilization for the ocean, by leading the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, from 2021 to 2030. In this context, several major international summits will take place this year, amplifying our efforts to better understand – and therefore better protect – the ocean. There are ten years left for humanity to understand that the Earth is first and foremost an ocean. Our fate depends on the way we care for it together.
  • Día Internacional de la Alfabetización 2018: mejorar los resultados de programas integrados de alfabetización y desarrollo de competencias.

    Organización de la Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (UNESCO) - Sector de Educación (UNESCO, 2018)
    Este documento de trabajo examina los vínculos entre el aprendizaje de la alfabetización, el desarrollo de competencias y el mundo del trabajo, en línea con el tema del Día Internacional de la Alfabetización (ILD, por sus siglas en inglés) 2018. Su objetivo es identificar acciones de política que ayudan a integrar el aprendizaje de la alfabetización y el desarrollo de competencias, con el objetivo de apoyar las vías hacia el empleo.
  • 2nd International Conference on Marine/Maritime Spatial Planning, 15-17 March 2017 Paris, France.

    Ehler, Charles; Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (UNESCO, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and European Commission – DGMARE, 2017)
    Organized by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO and the Directorate -General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of the European Commission, the 2nd international Conference on Marine/Maritime Spatial Planning brought together more than 350 experts from all regions of the world. Marine/Maritime Spatial Planning is described as the process that consists in regulating human activities in the waters border- ing coastal areas in order to preserve marine ecosystems, avoid conflicts between sectors of commercial and industrial activity, and promote international cooperation. The conference provided an opportunity to take stock of ex- isting experiences in marine spatial planning (MSP), exchange of best practices, encourage cooperation among countries sharing coastal and marine waters and establish priorities for the years to come.
  • Sargassum and Oil Spills Monitoring Pilot Projects for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions Workshop, México D.F., México 2–May 2018.

    Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (UNESCO-IOC, 2018)
    In recent years, the Caribbean region has faced challenges from oil spills and an influx of floating sargassum seaweed. Large-scale oil spill incidents have included an April 2017 spill at Pointe-à-Pierre, Trinidad and Tobago and a July 2017 oil spill in Kingston Harbor, Jamaica. Illegal dumping of oil-contaminated waste by ships operating in the region is also a common occurrence. An increase in the frequency and volume of sargassum beachings and coastal overabundance has caused another challenge for the region with mats preventing the deployment and retrieval of fishing gear and clogging popular beaches, harbors and bays. Based on the amounts of Sargassum detected in the Central West Atlantic and the Caribbean and in January–April 2018, researchers at the University of South Florida (USF) predict high amounts of Sargassum in Caribbean in coming months. In response to these challenges, a meeting of 40 experts from 15 countries was held in May f this year to discuss sargassum and oil spill monitoring in the Caribbean and Adjacent egions. The participants included representatives from various United Nations entities, academia, governments, private companies and international initiatives. The workshop was organized by IOCARIBE of IOC UNESCO and its Global Ocean Observing System Regional Alliance, IOCARIBE-GOOS, and the GEO Blue Planet Initiative, and hosted by the Ministry of Education of Mexico and Mexico National Council of Sciences. The overarching goal of the workshop was to develop a plan for the development of a region-wide system for monitoring and forecasting oil spills and sargassum presence. At the workshop, experts reviewed the existing technologies and challenges for monitoring and forecasting oil spills and sargassum in the Caribbean and adjacent regions and ultimately drafted a plan to create an information system based on existing efforts. It was determined that the objective of the information service will be to provide a publicly available monitoring platform and alerting system for oil spills and sargassum based on publically available data (e.g. satellite data and in situ data from countries with open data sharing policies). The service will initially be based on existing technologies and activities, working to augment and improve the framework for information management and delivery and mechanisms for the region and demonstrate the utility of ocean observations and products. It was agreed that the initial development of the service would be done by partner organizations, and the NOAA CoastWatch program and the Caribbean Marine Atlas volunteered to host service components initially. The long-term goal is to have the information service coordinated and built upon by a regional body in a model similar to that of the International Tsunami Information Centre.
  • Tsunami Hazard in Central America : Historical Events and Potential Sources. San José, Costa Rica, 23-24 June 2016.

    Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (UNESCO-IOC, 2018)
    Central America lies between two oceans, the Pacific and the Atlantic through the Caribbean Sea. Although it has no records of great earthquakes (~8.0 to 9.0), a tsunami catalogue based on historical references for Central America lists more than 50 entries. Tsunamis caused damage and casualties in 1882 off the Caribbean coast of Panama, in 1991 in Costa Rica and Panama and in 1992 in the Pacific coast of Nicaragua. Coastal population has vastly increased in recent decades, along with tourism, increasing total exposure to tsunami. The outcomes of this meeting, organized by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), are initially intended to contribute with sound science inputs to the project "Building resilient communities and integrated Early Warning Systems for tsunamis and other ocean related hazards in Central America", funded by the European Commission's Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations department (ECHO) implemented by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and national counterparts in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, in close cooperation with Panama and Costa Rica.
  • Italian Digital Mobilization Event for the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development: “Towards the Generation Ocean”, 22 October 2020, Milan, Italy.

    Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (UNESCO-IOC, 2020)
    This event entitled “Verso la Generazione Oceano” (Towards the Generation Ocean) was the first initiative organized in Italy to present the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (hereinafter the “Decade”). It was held on 22 October 2020 in Milan, Italy. Its goal was to illustrate to the Italian stakeholders the objectives and the plans of the Decade in order to pave the way for the creation of the Generation Ocean campaign (#versolagenerazioneoceano) that will be developed in Italy in 2021. Moreover, this event was organized with the aim to work with different stakeholders and sectors of the society in start developing ideas to be implemented during the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2031). This event was planned to take place in May 2020 and the preparatory work started in January 2020. However, due to the Covid-19 outbreak, it was postponed and rescheduled as a digital event to 22 October 2020. Nutrition, oxygen, energy, work, health: everything that allows us to live is linked to the ocean. To promote greater knowledge, conservation and sustainable use of the ocean and its resources, the United Nations declared 2021-2030 "Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development". The Decade aims to mobilise the scientific community, policymakers, business and civil society around a collaborative research and technological innovation programme. It will enable the coordination of research programmes, observation systems, capacity building, maritime spatial planning, and marine risk reduction, to improve the management of ocean and coastal zone resources. The Decade of Ocean Sciences should accelerate the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14 for the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean, seas and marine resources. The goal is also to create together “the ocean we need, for the future we want”. With this in mind, the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO) represented by its Executive Secretary, Dr Vladimir Ryabinin, organised a popular event "Towards the Generation Ocean" to present in Italy the Decade of Ocean Science. In collaboration with various partners, the event aims to initiate a movement that gives voice to the importance of having a resilient ocean, a productive ocean and a healthy ocean. The event focussed on three great challenges: "climate change, food safety and human health". From the No’hma theatre in Milan, “Towards the Generation Ocean” gathered virtually from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., researchers, professionals, sustainable entrepreneurs, and also chefs, musicians, journalists and experts from various sectors of society. The time to act is now and we must act together! was the message. The event was an initiative dedicated to the role of marine scientific research as an essential tool to ensure the health of the planet and the announcement of a new era represented by the "Generation Ocean". It strived to spread greater awareness of the importance of the ocean and to promote innovative solutions to the challenges we will face in the coming years. At the end of the morning, the event hosted the award ceremony of Oceanthon, the digital hackathon aimed at students, researchers, developers, experts in communication, economics, marketing and design, participating in the design of innovative ideas for the conservation of the ocean. The highlight of the mobilisation event was the presentation of the Oceanthon Prize by Davide Villa, CMO and Board Member of E.ON Italia to the winning “River Cleaner” project by Blue Eco Line startup. The initiative mobilized institutions, companies, non-profit organizations, media and popular people with great interest in the objectives of the Decade. All of them are called to become the promoters of specific initiatives and helper of the IOC as coordinator of the Decade in raising awareness, and facilitating stakeholders’ commitments for the Decade. See related web article: https://en.unesco.org/news/towards-generation-ocean-united-create-ocean-we-need-future-we-want .
  • International data sharing workshop for non-UN IGOs, global and regional organizations and projects, NGOs and private sector, online meeting, 12 October 2020.

    Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (UNESCO-IOC, 2020)
    For many years now, we have known we were running out of time to stop and revert the decline of ocean health and start managing the ocean in a sustainable way. The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development is an initiative of all and for all stakeholders, embracing natural and social science disciplines, local and indigenous knowledge, science policy and innovation interfaces, technology and infrastructure, aimed to achieve sustainable management of the ocean and development. This Decade will be transformative and will create a paradigm shift in the generation of ocean related knowledge, based on the principles of synergies, co design and co development of actions towards the agreed goals in a multi-stakeholder environment From the very outset, data and information have been recognized between the key issues cutting across all other elements and dimensions of the Decade. The Decade will facilitate the exchange of ocean knowledge between generators and diverse users of ocean knowledge through new data, information and knowledge platforms and services. Amongst the identified outcomes, outcome #6 tackles an accessible ocean with open and equitable access to data, information, technology, and innovation, improving access to and quality control of data, knowledge and technology. Data and information is further referred to in two of the challenges identified in the implementation plan, namely Challenge 8: “Through multi-stakeholder collaboration, develop a comprehensive digital representation of the ocean, including a dynamic ocean map, which provides free and open access for exploring, discovering, and visualizing past, current, and future ocean conditions in a manner relevant to diverse stakeholders” and Challenge 9: “Ensure comprehensive capacity development and equitable access to data, information, knowledge and technology across all aspects of ocean science and for all stakeholders”. We have now an opportunity to build together a community of ocean related data and information practitioners that shares resources, experiences, guidelines, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems. In short, a shared practice, so we can address together, efficiently, and effectively, the challenges of the Decade.
  • First session of the Advisory Group for the Ocean Data and Information Network for the WESTPAC region (ODINWESTPAC), Tianjin, China, 27-28 January 2016 .

    Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (UNESCO-IOC, 2016)
    This report reports on the establishment and working of the Advisory Group during its first session. This working group is a very good opportunity for the WESTPAC experts in the date and communication field to get together to constructively find a way to promote the project.
  • Proceedings of the African Summer School on the Application of Ocean Data and Modelling Products ,University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana. 9-13 June 2014 Institute for Meteorological Training and Research, Nairobi, Kenya 18-22 August 2014

    Aura, Stella; Backeberg, Bjorn; Bemiasa, John; Folorunsho, Regina; Jian, Long; Kumar, Nagaraja; Lebehot, Alice; Mahongo, Shigalla; Odido, Mika; Reed, Greg; et al. (UNESCO-IOC, 2015)
    The rapid development of operational oceanography in recent years has led to improved access to real-time data and products generated from in-situ and satellite observations as well as ocean modelling. Examples of such observations in the African oceans and coasts include the Argo programme, which collects temperature and salinity data from more than 3,500 buoys deployed in many parts of the world oceans, and the network of sea level stations established by IOC and other organizations under the framework of the Joint IOC-WMO Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM) and the IOC-led Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). A number of large open data sets and metadata from observations (in situ and remote sensing) and from model outputs exist which have application to a number of challenges and problems in coastal environments. The International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) programme has assisted several institutions in Africa to access these data sets through the Ocean Data and Information Network for Africa (ODINAFRICA). However these resources have not been utilised optimally in Africa due to limited capacities, and lack of information on their availability and applicability. The goal of the African Summer School on Application of Ocean and Coastal Data and Modelling Products was to build African capacity to access and utilize ocean and coastal data (and relevant meteorological data) from in situ and satellite observations, as well as those generated from ocean models to produce useful services for local use, for a wide variety of human and economic benefit purposes. On the basis of case studies, the participants learnt how to optimise the use of widely available data and analysis tools.
  • WESTPAC Workshop on Research and Monitoring of the Ecological Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reef Ecosystems, Phuket, Thailand, 19-21 January 2015.

    Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (UNESCO-IOC, 2015)
    The workshop exchanged information on existing and proposed ocean acidification monitoring and research approaches, methods, and techniques at global, regional, and national levels; established an ocean acidification research and observing network in the Western Pacific and its adjacent region by bringing together regional experts who have been making efforts on the research and monitoring of ocean acidification. In view of the pressing need to draw the attention of high-level policy-makers and relevant stakeholders in the region to ocean acidification, the workshop established a task force to start formulating, with technical assistance of the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program, an outreach flyer on ocean acidification and its social-economic impacts in the region. With the case study on the US NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program, particularly its Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program, the workshop recognized great challenges and gaps in monitoring the ecological impacts of ocean acidification on coral reef ecosystems in the region. Given the limited understanding on the ecosystem responses to ocean acidification against a critical need to develop meaningful projections on future impacts of ocean acidification on marine ecosystem, especially on coral reefs in the region to enable resource and fisheries managers, and policy-makers to develop effective long-term mitigation and adaptation strategies for the people of the region, the workshop stressed the need, building on existing coral reef monitoring initiatives, to develop a joint long-term monitoring programme/network on the impacts of ocean acidification on coral reefs in the region. To this end, the workshop selected several pilot sites as a starting point for developing the regional monitoring program/network. A table for monitoring capacity analysis was developed and will be distributed to participants willing to join the programme development, with a view to analysing the current monitoring capacity, identifying common monitoring methods, and further considering developing a consistent, comparable and cost-effective “Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)” for all pilot sites.
  • First Session of the IODE Steering Group for the IODE Ocean Data Portal (SG-ODP-I), IOC Project Office for IODE, Oostende, Belgium, 20-22 September 2010.

    Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO-IOC, 2010)
    Timely access to quality data is essential for the understanding of marine processes. The International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) programme, through its distributed network of National Oceanographic Data Centres (NODCs), is developing the Ocean Data Portal (ODP) to facilitate seamless access to oceanographic data and to promote the exchange and dissemination of marine data and services. The ODP provides the full range of processes including data discovery, evaluation and access, and delivers a standards-based infrastructure that provides integration of marine data and information across the NODC network. The key principle behind the ODP is its interoperability with existing systems and resources and the IODE is working closely with the Joint WMO-IOC Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM) to ensure the ODP is interoperable with the WMO Information System (WIS) that will provide access to marine meteorological and oceanographic data and information to serve a number of applications, including climate. Following the IODE-XX recommendations high priority has been assigned to the interaction with the SeaDataNet infrastructure (SDN). The ODP web site is available at www.oceandataportal.org. This site provides background information on the project, software, documentation and training materials in addition to assistance to users on how to use ODP and how to become ODP data providers. The ODP data access is available at http://data.oceandataportal.org .
  • IODE/OBIS-Event-Data Workshop on Animal Tagging and Tracking (ATT), Ostend, Belgium, 23-26 April 2018.

    Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO-IOC, 2018)
    The International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) project office of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) held the IODE/OBIS-Event-Data workshop on animal tagging and tracking (ATT) from 23 to 26 April 2018 in Ostend, Belgium, to test the OBIS-ENV-DATA standard through the development of data products for scientific applications. This workshop was attended by 22 participants from 8 countries representing the major animal telemetry networks in Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Canada, Europe and the USA. The participants agreed to use the OBIS-ENV-DATA Darwin Core standard to exchange and publish detection data through OBIS (both acoustic and satellite) and work with OBIS and the scientific community to develop data products for the Essential Ocean Variables (EOV) of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), in particular the “Marine turtles, birds, mammals abundance and distribution EOV” and the “Fish abundance and distribution EOV”. The guidelines for the implementation of the OBIS-ENV-DATA standard for tracking data (acoustic and satellite detections) were agreed upon and will be further refined and documented in collaboration with the data standardization working group of the International Bio-logging Society as well as the Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) community which oversees development of Darwin Core. In collaboration with several scientists involved in animal tracking, the OBIS Secretariat is developing a data aggregation tool (which will be available as an R package) to calculate home ranges, migration pathways and movement patterns based on the tracking data in OBIS. It is expected that new public tracking data will be made available to OBIS before mid-2018 and the first products be available early 2019. It was felt important that OBIS provides access to the relevant (aggregated) data used to calculate the scientific products and provide links back to the original (raw) data sources to ensure proper data provenance and allow reproducibility. This was the first workshop of the IODE pilot project entitled OBIS-Event-Data, which aims at seeking early adopters of the OBIS-ENV-DATA standard and develop data products and scientific applications in particular to support the work of the Biological and Ecosystem EOVs of GOOS and the Marine Biodiversity Observation Network of the Group on Earth Observations (GEOBON MBON).
  • 6th International XBT Science Workshop, Ostend, Belgium, 18-20 April 2018.

    Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO-IOC, 2018)
    The 6th International XBT (Expendable bathythermograph) Science team workshop took place at the IODE Project Office of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, in Ostend, Belgium from 18 to 20 April 2018 following on from the 5th IODE Steering Group for the International Quality Controlled Ocean Database (SG-IquOD) meeting at the same venue. The workshop was divided in oral presentations and plenary discussions, held with the objective of exchanging ideas on how to proceed with the implementation, maintenance, and enhancement of the XBT network. A total of 19 scientists participated (4 remotely) from Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Africa, UK, and the USA. XBTs represent the largest fraction of the temperature profile observations since 1970s until the full implementation of Argo profiling floats in approximately 2005. These historical XBT profiles comprise most of the temperature data base that is used to compute time series of ocean heat content. One focus of the XBT Science team (along with IQuOD) is to improve and understand the accuracy of these historical data so that we can understand the uncertainties in this climatically important time series. The global XBT network is logistically complex and so requires strong collaboration between many organizations and countries (Figure 1). Many of these transects have now been in place for multiple-decades. Today, XBT transects mainly operate in High Density (also referred as High Resolution) and Frequently Repeated modes. High Density transects are occupied at least 4 times per year XBT deployed at approximately 25 km intervals along the ship track. Frequently repeated tracks are occupied at around 18 times per year with XBT deployments at 100 km intervals. The repeat sampling nature of XBT transects along fixed transects makes the XBT profiles our best present observing system for the important boundary current systems (including the Antarctic Circumpolar Current) that convey heat, freshwater and nutrients around the global ocean. XBT observations are currently used mainly to: (i) Monitor the variability of location and transport of key surface and subsurface ocean currents and boundary currents, (ii) Monitor the variability of the meridional heat transport and the Meridional Overturning Circulation across ocean basins, (iii) Provide a significant amount of upper ocean thermal observations, particularly in areas undersampled by other observational platforms, used for global ocean heat content estimates, and (iv) Initialization and validation of numerical ocean forecast models. A strong synergy exists between XBT observations and observations from other platforms, such as altimetry, surface drifters, Argo, etc. the enables more robust scientific analysis.
  • Sources of Tsunamis in the Caribbean with Possibility to Impact the Southern Coast of the Dominican Republic, Expert meeting, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 6-7 May 2016.

    Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO-IOC, 2016)
    The southern coast of Dominican Republic is a very populated region, withseveral important cities including Santo Domingo, its capital. Important activities are rooted in the southern coast including tourism, industry, commercial ports, and, energy facilities, amongothers. According to historical reports, it has been impacted by big earthquakes accompanied by tsunamis as in Azua in 1751 and recently Pedernales in 2010, but their sources are not clearly identified.With partial support of the European Union funded project "Life-Saving Actions: Disaster preparedness and seismic and tsunami risk reduction in the south coast of San Cristóbal province, Dominican Republic» implemented by UNDP, UNESCO and the Assembly of Cooperation for Peace in Dominican Republic (ACPP),UNESCO together with the Seismological Institute of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo,organized the meeting of experts "Sources of tsunamis in the Caribbean with possibility to impact the southern coast of the Dominican Republic", on 6 and 7 May 2016, with invited experts and specialists ofDominican Republic, France, Haiti, Spainand theUnited States.The invited experts analysedin a closed meeting three groups of tsunami sources(tectonic sources, landslides and volcanic eruptions)of which they identified two groups of crediblesources of tsunamis in the Caribbean that could impact the southern coast of the Dominican Republic(tectonic sources and submarine landslides):I. Tectonic Sources: A.Near-field tectonic sources(less than 500 km from impact zone):-Western Muertos Trough (WMT) –Mw 8.0:-Small Muertos Trough 1 (SMT1) –Mw 7.6-Small Muertos Trough 2 (SMT2) –Mw 7.6-Muertos Trough Mega-splay (MS)–Mw 7.7B.Far-field tectonic sources:1. Southern Caribbean:-Northern Panama Deformed Belt (NPDB)–Mw 8.5-West branch of the South Caribbean Deformed Belt (WSCDB)–Mw 8.6-Full South Caribbean Deformed Belt (FSCDB)2. Northeastern Caribbean: Although thefollowing sources are at less than500 km of the impact zone, experts classified them as far-field given its expectedlower impact:-Puerto Rico Trench (PRT) –Mw 8.6-Mona Extension Fault (MEF) –Mw 7.6II. Submarine landslides: Within the different sourcesdiscussed only one was consideredasa potential threat, a potential landslide located ~100 km off the coast of Santo Domingo, denominated Complutense Slump (CS)by Granja et al. (2014).Volume of slump: 224km3.
  • Consultation on Scientific and Technical Aspects of Sustained Ocean Observations and Services, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 5th March, 2013.

    IOC for UNESCO (UNESCO, 2013)
    The objective of the forum was to: 1. To discuss the advantages and obstacles present in implementing sustained ocean observations and services in Group III. 2. To consider future perspectives of the sustained ocean observations and services in Group III. 3. To suggest strategic recommendation on the sustained ocean observations and services, including their operational use in Group III, to IOC and Member States..
  • SCOR/IODE/MBLWHOI Library Workshop on Data Publication 5th Session, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, USA, 9-10 October 2012.

    IOC for UNESCO (UNESCO, 2012)
    The fifth SCOR/IODE/MBLWHOI Library Workshop on Data Publication was convened by the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR), the International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and the Marine Biological Laboratory/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Library (MBLWHOI Library) on 9-10 October 2012 to evaluate progress of the two pilot projects of the activity and to discuss related topics, such as implementation of data repositories in different data centres and cooperation with related national and international efforts, and hear about how data publication is being handled in other disciplines and interactions with publishers of scientific journals.

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