Ocean Flagship: Ocean Flagship
The Ocean Flagship is established bringing together main partners involved in the long-term ocean observations around Svalbard. The project will initiate a new Svalbard Science Forum (SSF) flagship program.
Objectives
The overall objective is to establish an Ocean Flagship including all major players (national and international) in ocean research around Svalbard in order to improve the coordination of research, increase the collaboration across the different disciplines and institutions.
Specific objectives:
- Arrange an initial workshop to define how to implement and organize the Ocean Flagship and to review the current status of existing and planned moored and drifting installations in the Svalbard area.
- To establish a web portal for the Ocean Flagship to improve the promotion, data sharing, and coordination of ocean research activities taking place around Svalbard.
- To establish the Ocean Flagship - Think Tank - aimed to improve multidisciplinary research and to increase the social awareness in ocean research.
- Provide a recommendation and roadmap for ocean research around Svalbard, including links to SIOS, EPOS and international projects and programs.
Project Summary
The main goal of the proposed SSF Ocean Flagship is to increase scientific cooperation between all countries and institutions actively involved in the marine research in the Svalbard area. At present the individual elements of the ocean observing system in Fram Strait and the European Arctic are mostly project-related and therefore relatively dispersed and independent. Moreover, the information flow between different players in ocean observations is rather limited. To increase the coordination of research activities, in particular those based on in situ observations and thus requiring complex field operations and significant infrastructure, the Ocean Flagship will be established as a platform for sharing the knowledge and experience and exchanging information about all aspects of ocean research around Svalbard. The joint web platform with contributions from all partners of the Ocean Flagship will ensure open sharing of metadata, data and other types of operational information related to marine research around Svalbard and in the European Arctic. Optimizing the implementation and use of infrastructure for long-term ocean monitoring will contribute to reducing of the environmental impact of field operations in the Svalbard maritime region.
