22 March 2025 | 13:30 - 17:30 (MST)
Open Session - HYBRID
Room: Glen Miller Ballroom in UMC - 208
Organiser: Craig Lee (University of Washington, Applied Physics Laboratory, United States of America)
Event Description:
This session will advance discussions on the development of an Arctic-wide ocean observing alliance, following the model of a GOOS Regional Alliance (GRA). Following a roundtable meeting at ASSW 2023 in Vienna, an international task team was formed to shape a potential Arctic GRA, starting with the definition and implementation of a co-design process and working toward a proposal that describes objectives, structure, functions and governance for a pan-Arctic ocean observing alliance. A subsequent session, held at the 2024 Arctic Observing Summit in Edinburgh, explored the needs and concerns of Alaskan Indigenous communities and the shape of other analogous and related observing entities. The Task Team has received formal endorsement by Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks (SAON), by the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) Steering Committee and by the UN Decade of Ocean Science’s Arctic Action Plan.
In this ASSW 2025 session, the Task Team will present its work to date on developing a formal proposal for a Regional Alliance (RA) and invites the community to further articulate the value/benefits of an Arctic Regional Alliance for Ocean Observing, based on the main themes 1) Participation and work to broaden input from diverse rightsholders and stakeholders, 2) Concerns and needs of Indigenous and coastal communities, 3) Structure - What form should the RA take? 4) Function - What useful services might the RA provide? 5) Governance - What structure would be effective and appropriate? 6) Review and evolution - How do we build in regular, community-driven assessment and RA evolution in response to feedback?