Our civilization needs a clean, resilient, productive, safe, well-observed, documented and predicted ocean. "The ocean we need for the future we want" was the motto of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission proposal to the United Nations to consider the merit of an Ocean Science Decade. By proclaiming the Decade, the UN General Assembly offered the oceanographic community a unique, once in a lifetime , opportunity to change the way we do things, make oceanography fit for purpose of effectively supporting sustainable development, and energize the ocean sciences for future generations. The Decade is the chance to put in place a more complete and sustainable observing system and feed the resulting data into a science-based informed decision-making system allowing increased reliance of our civilization on the ocean, its ecosystem services and, at the same time, preserving ocean health. Strong and proactive engagement of the oceanographic community in the design of the Decade and its observing component and subsequent energetic implementation of the ideas are sought. Participants in OceanObs'19 are invited to consider the additional possibilities and requirements associated with the Decade in their contributions to and brainstorming at the Conference. It is essential to use collective wisdom of OceanObs'19 to help developing an ambitious and also realistic implementation plan for the Decade, with a strong observational component.
The coastal zone has changed profoundly during the 20 th century and as a result society is becoming increasingly vulnerable to the impact of sea-level rise and variability. This and in situ observational activities need to be sustained and new activities supported. To the extent that we are able to sustain these observations, research programmes utilizing the resulting data should be able to significantly improve our understanding and narrow projections of future sea-level rise and variability.4
OVERVIEWSea level is one of the most useful oceanographic parameters. Sea level data are vital to scientists for studies of fluctuations in major ocean currents and global climate change, to engineers for the design of coastal installations, to a large community engaged in what is now called "operational oceanography" (e.g. the provision of flood warnings from storm surges and tsunamis), and in local applications such as provision of tide tables and real-time data for port operations. For nearly 25 years, the Global Sea Level Observing System (GLOSS) has provided oversight for the operation of tide gauge networks and has ensured that requirements for accuracy, frequency and latency of sea level data are met for a broad base of users. After a brief background of the program, we present a status report of GLOSS in 2009, and provide community recommendations for the future role of GLOSS in the coming decade.
Low solar elevations at high latitudes result in two phenomena that affect the quantity and quality of light entering the sea. High surface reflectances significantly reduce the direct solar irradiance and, to a lesser extent, the global irradiance. Furthermore, there is an apparent spectral shift such that proportionately more blue (diffuse) light is transmitted and more red (direct) light is reflected by the sea surface. A model of photosynthetically available radiation (PAR} has been used to quantify these effects. The model was developed to predict daily broadband (400-700 nm) photon flux as a function of latitude and time of year for varying cloud-free atmospheric conditions. Seasonal and spectral variability of the surface albedo is described at latitudes between 40" and 7O"N. Ranges arc established for surface albedo which encompass variability due to atmospheric turbidity and wind-induced surface waves.
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