Leader: Janet Sprintall (2023 – ), Marjolaine Krug (2020 – 2022)
Co-leaders: Maria Paz Chidichimo, Lisa Beal, John Wilkin, Robert Todd, Nadia Ayoub
View full task team membership.
The environmental health and societal uses of the coastal ocean are impacted not only by human activities on land but also by coastal to open-ocean exchange at the edge of the continental shelf – processes strongly influenced by energetic shelf-edge boundary currents. Boundary currents are themselves significant in global budgets of heat, freshwater and biogeochemical constituents, and are regions of strong air-sea interaction.
Accordingly, the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), recognizing the emerging need for a coordinated international approach to sustained coastal ocean observing that complements the global network, has established a Boundary Systems Task Team that will develop a conceptual design for sustained observing activities in boundary systems globally.
Activities of the Task Team are coordinated by the GCOS-GOOS-WCRP Ocean Observations Physics and Climate panel (OOPC). The Task Team is charged with providing guidance to GOOS observing networks and GOOS Regional Alliances on observing asset deployments in coastal and boundary current regions that would complement GOOS objectives. To formulate this advice, the Task Team, collaborating with other efforts in this space (e.g., CLIVAR, OceanPredict, WCRP), will first look to knowledge gleaned from historically well observed boundary current systems and mature integrated observing systems, and from climate analysis and modeling communities with respect to knowledge gaps, observing system design, and experience in the synthesis of multi-platform observations. The Task Team will seek community consensus on coordinated approaches to global boundary systems observing by encouraging reviews, pilot experiments, observing system evaluation experiments, and by being an advocate for new sustained observing activities.
This activity is key for establishing the physical observing system that links the open ocean to the coastal zones, and to improve models and their ability to predict a large spectrum of phenomena and impacts, including pollution, weather and marine extremes, coastal erosion, sea-level rise, and the physical underpinning for impacts on marine ecosystems, fisheries, and aquaculture. Understanding boundary systems is a fundamental step to develop solutions and strategies for adaptation.
OOPC Webinar Series
Dialogues on Boundary Systems: #1: The IBERIAN SYSTEM by Dr. Enrique Álvarez-Fanjul
Watch Webinar / Download Presentation Slides
(4 May 2021)
Dialogues on Boundary Systems: #2: California Current by Drs. Katherine Zaba and Chris Edwards
Watch 1 of 2 of pre-webinar presentation / Watch 2 of 2 pre-webinar presentation / Watch Webinar / Download Presentation Slides: K Zaba full presentation
(8 June 2021)
Dialogues on Boundary Systems: #3: Kuroshio by Dr. Eitaro Oka and Dr. Yasumasa Miyazawa
Watch 1 of 2 of pre-webinar presentation / Watch 2 of 2 pre-webinar presentation / Watch Webinar
(6 July 2021)
Dialogues on Boundary Systems: #4: East Australian Current by Dr. Moninya Roughan and Dr. Colette Kerry
Watch 1 of 2 of pre-webinar presentation / Watch 2 of 2 pre-webinar presentation / Watch Webinar
(August 3 2021)
Designing observing systems for ocean boundaries [OOPC – Satellite Laboratory for the UN Ocean Decade]
Watch Webinar
(16 September 2021)
Dialogues on Boundary Systems: #5: Gulf Stream by Dr. Magdalena Andres and Dr. Jonathan Gula
Watch 1 of 2 background recordings / Watch 2 of 2 background recordings / Watch Webinar
(October 6 2021)
Dialogues on Boundary Systems: #6: Mediterranean by Dr. Anthony Bosse and Dr. Paolo Oddo
Watch 1 of 2 pre-webinar presentation / Watch 2 of 2 pre-webinar presentation / Watch Webinar
(May 4 2022)