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International Cooperation in Ocean Colour

The International Ocean-Colour Coordinating Group (IOCCG) was established during 1996 under the auspices of the Intergovermental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), following a resolution endorsed by the Committee on Earth Observation Satellite (CEOS).

The group held its first meeting in Toulouse (France), March 22 & 23, 1966, producing an interim set of Terms of Reference. The Executive Committee of the IOCCG met in Washington, DC(USA), December 5 & 6, 1966, and took the decisions necessary to found a Project Office related to this initiative. The activities of the IOCCG are dependent upon financial contributions from national space agencies and other groups, and upon infrastructure support from the IOC.
The aims of the International Ocean-Colour Coordinating Group, as articulated at its first meeting (Toulouse, 1996). are as follows:
• Foster expertise in using ocean-colour data (training)
-Encourage the use of ocean color data, particularly in developing countries, through training courses, workshops and international symposia as well as exchange of in situ data and software tools for data access and processing.
• Provide a common voice for the user community
-Develop a consensus among users on key issues related to satellite-ocean-colour science and technology, and communicate the collective view to the appropriate international bodies and space agencies.
• Advocate the importance of ocean-colour data to the global community
-Through workshops, conferences and other appropriate information systems, demonstrate the importance of ocean colour data to the global community.
• Optimize quality of data, facilitate merging and access to data
-Promote the formation of an international calibration and validation network for ocean colour and ensure that sea-truth measurements conform to accepted international protocols.
-Encourage agencies to agree on common formats for data exchange, common data products and algorithms.
-Facilitate access to ocean-colour data and ancillary data.
• Advocate the collection of essential ocean and atmosphere data
-Identify key variables relevant to the application of ocean-colour data, and recommend data-collecting strategies to fill existing gaps in time and space.
Terms of Reference
With these goals in mind, the group adopted the following interim Terms of Reference. They will be finalised at the next meeting of the IOCCG, which will be held in Tokyo, March, 1997.
1.To serve as a communication and coordination channel between data providers and the global, user community of satellite-ocean-colour data, and so to maximize the benefits that accrue from international investments in ocean-colour science and technology.
2.To construct a partnership, at the international level, between the space agencies and the users of satellite-ocean-colour data to develop and coordinate data utilization.
3.To work closely with the appropriate international bodies (including CEOS, IOC and SCOR), international scientific programs (such as IGBP and GOOS), satellite-ocean-colour-mission offices and other agencies (such as environmental and fishing agencies) to harmonize the international effort and advance ocean-colour science and its applications.
4.To develop a collective voice for the community of users of ocean-colour data and to articulate this voice to the appropriate international bodies, international scientific programs and space agencies.
5.To promote the long-term continuity of satellite ocean-colour data sets; the development of operational, ocean-colour data services and new generations of ocean-colour sensors; and the integration of data from complementary ocean sensors.

Project Office
Effective January 1, 1997, a Project Office for the IOCCG will be set up at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It will be supervised by Dr. Trevor Platt, Chairman of the IOCCG, and staffed, initially, by a half-time Project Scientist (Dr. Venetia Stuart) under contract to the IOC Secretariat (UNESCO, Paris). The office can be reached by telephone (1-902-426-3793); by fax (1-902-426-9388); or by e-mail (tplatt@is.dal.ca). The remote-sensing officer at the IOC Secretariat is Mr.John Withrow (telephone 33.1.45.68.40.08; fax 33.1.45.68.58.12; email j.withrow@unesco.org).
One of the first activities of the Project Office will be to establish a presence on the World-Wide Web, intended to provide a comprehensive Internet resource on ocean colour: the address of the server will be announced in the near future.

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