by Prof Gary Myers, Director, IMOS

The Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) was established as part of the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) with a $50M allocation and more than $50M in co-investments from universities and government agencies. It is managed as a national project by the IMOS Office established at the University of Tasmania. The system comprises a distributed set of oceanographic instruments, which provide streams of in situ data resulting in information services which contribute to meeting the needs of marine research in Australia’s open and coastal waters. We intend to plan IMOS-2 in collaboration with the CERF Marine Biodiversity Hub. This article, and one on the hub to be published in the next IMOS newsletter, are intended to start conversation between the two communities. 

Australia has significant requirements and responsibilities for one of the largest marine jurisdictions of any nation on earth. At over 14 million km2, Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is nearly twice the surface area of the Australian continent. It extends from the tropics to high latitudes in Antarctic waters and much of it remains unexplored.

The surrounding Pacific, Southern and Indian Oceans strongly affect the continental climate-system at all time scales, from seasons to decades. The major ocean currents on its eastern, western, northern and southern boundaries – best known of these being the East Australian Current and the Leeuwin Current in the west – affect regional climatic conditions and marine ecosystems. There is evidence that these currents are changing on decadal time scales and have already impacted biodiversity in marine ecosystems.  However, the data collected is sparse and neither the currents nor ecosystems have been monitored in a systematic way. Research on marine climate impacts is an open book in Australia, and the pages are virtually blank, because long term, systematically repeated data has been missing.The in situ data when combined with satellite data enables the modeling required to explain the role of the oceans in seasonal prediction and climate change. Sustaining the project will allow identification and management of climate change in the coastal marine environment. It will also provide an observational nexus to better understand and predict the fundamental connections between coastal biological processes and regional/oceanic phenomena that influence biodiversity, as well as indicators of biodiversity. While as an NCRIS project IMOS was primarily designed to support research; the data streams are also critical for societal, environmental and economic applications. Some of these include management of marine natural resources and their associated ecosystems, support and management of coastal and offshore industries, safety at sea, marine tourism and defence.

The IMOS strategic research-goal is to assemble and provide free, open and timely access to streams of data that support research on: 

• The role of the oceans in the climate system, and 

• The impact of major boundary currents on continental shelf environments, ecosystems and biodiversity. 

As such, much of the data collection is focused on the continental slope and outer shelf, where biodiversity is under threat.

Given the extent and challenge of addressing the broad range of marine issues in the Australian EEZ, IMOS is considered only the beginning of the observing system that Australia needs. The cost of an adequate observing system will be high due to the great length of coastline and the complexity of the system. Nevertheless, staged enhancements are being planned.

The scientific rationale for IMOS was set by five regional Nodes covering the Great Barrier Reef, New South Wales (south-eastern Australia), Southern Australia, Western Australia and the Bluewater and Climate Node (see image above). Each Node has 50 to 100 members. We encourage hub researchers to participate in Node meetings which happen twice per year. See the IMOS website for information on Node contacts.

Nine national Facilities under the direction of the IMOS Office make observations which are specified by the Nodes using different components of infrastructure and instruments. For example, there are separate facilities for Argo floats, ships of opportunity, coastal radar, etc. The observing facilities include three for bluewater and climate observations (Argo Australia, Enhanced Measurements from Ships of Opportunity and Southern Ocean Time Series), three facilities for coastal currents and water properties (Moorings, Ocean Gliders and HF Radar) and three for coastal ecosystems (Acoustic Tagging and Tracking, Autonomous Underwater Vehicle and a biophysical sensor network on the Great Barrier Reef). The operators of the facilities are the major players in marine research in Australia. A satellite remote sensing facility assembles satellite data for the region and the electronic Marine Information Infrastructure (eMII) will provide access to all IMOS data, enhanced data products, and web services in a searchable and interoperable framework.

If all of the IMOS Facilities were deployed in one region, the coverage would look like the figure above.  IMOS observations occur on the middle and outer continental shelf and slope where there are significant biodiversity threats.

More info:  http://www.imos.org.au 

IMOS facilities and infrastructure: http://imos.org.au/facilities.html