Motivation and international context of ocean forecasting

The principle of openness – free and open sharing of data, exchange of knowledge, interdisciplinary cooperation – and the unwavering ambition to generate at every moment the best possible information to improve our knowledge on the ocean and contribute to a sustainable development are fundamentals in this approach. This principle is a cornerstone of international cooperation and has been a key factor of success of the development of ocean forecasting.

One of the most structuring elements has been the adoption of open & free data policy amongst our community. As previously mentioned, data sharing is a vital need to have a predicted ocean. The Resolution 40 of the World Meteorological Organization related to the exchange of meteorological data was the first model identified by weather oceanographers. Afterwards, the scope has been extended by several international initiatives developed to promote data exchange and systems interoperability at a wider scale, facilitating interdisciplinary approaches. For example, the INSPIRE Directive aims to create a European Union spatial data infrastructure for the purposes of EU environmental policies and activities which may have an impact on the environment (🔗5).

This European Spatial Data Infrastructure is enabling the sharing of environmental spatial information among public sector organisations, facilitating its public access across Europe, and assisting in policy making across boundaries. Beyond its simplicity for implementation (open sharing means less energy spent in control and more in value creation), openness is a key condition for inclusiveness. Being inclusive is identified as particularly important in the field of modern oceanography where stakeholders, motivations and situations are particularly diverse and rich. The Copernicus Marine service in Europe has shown the strength of a state of-the-art operational service implemented by hundreds of experts and teams, distributed throughout Europe, coming from public and private sectors, from operational and research organisations, from different countries, from diverse cultures and relations to the ocean. Openness facilitates inclusiveness and enables diversity, bringing together the best skills and fostering capacity building. This principle of inclusiveness is particularly important to successfully manage the seamless integration of coastal centres in the OOFS framework, where – here again – the first priority will be to build a worldwide capacity open and benefitting to all.