- Dona Paula, Goa, India.
- +91-0832- 2450327
- iiosc2020[at]nio[dot]org
| Abstract Submission No. | ABS-2022-04-0432 |
| Title of Abstract | Proposal for a New Annual Indian Ocean Transect (AIOT) and Oceanographic Training Program |
| Authors | Jim Costopulos* |
| Organisation | Global Oceans, New York, USA |
| Address | President/CEO Global Oceans, New York, New York, NY, United States Pincode: 101 Mobile: 8473345028 E-mail: jcostopulos@global-oceans.org |
| Country | United States |
| Presentation | Oral |
| Abstract | For scientific communities and institutions in the Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific regions, access to large-scale research infrastructure such as research vessels and exploration vehicles suitable for open ocean and deep-sea research are often not available. Yet, establishing a critical mass of research capacity, technical expertise and education at a level that can catalyze and inform regional policies for climate risk mitigation and sustainable development requires largescale investments in infrastructure and the institutions to manage them ⿿ investments that for many developing nations is currently impossible. Global Oceans, a US based 501c3 nonprofit organization, has developed a strategy for organizing, adapting and enabling the use of existing private-sector resources, primarily by chartering ships and other assets operating within the global offshore energy sector, to expand physical capacity for conducting world-class ocean science on manned platforms. The vessels mobilized by Global Oceans are called Modular Adaptive Research Vessels (MARVs), comprised of the managed integration of short-term, time-chartered offshore service vessels (OSVs) together with modular laboratory and workspace systems installed on deck, and coordinated at the local level through a global network of port facilities and technical staff. Enabled by this capacity for program-configured MARV vessels, we are proposing a new annual program called the Annual Indian Ocean Transect (AIOT). We propose to replicate on an on-going annual basis selected transects undertaken in the Indian Ocean by the GO-SHIP Hydrographic Survey program, initially to replicate the IO9N transect from Freemantle, Australia to Phuket, Thailand, and subsequently to replicate the IO7N transect from Durban, South Africa to Goa, India. The AIOT will focus on GO-SHIP Level 1 core measurements comprising about twenty-five individual parameters, all of which can be analyzed on board. Modular laboratories will be configured to support these analyses, with methods, reference materials, and quality control processes standardized and calibrated with GO-SHIP methods from these transects for data comparability. The AIOT will be a regional, multinational effort led by scientists and students from regional Indian Ocean institutions and government agencies. A second major component of the program is the development of a new curriculum to provide students and early career scientists with hands-on field training and experience in the use of instrumentation, sample collection and processing, standard methods, and laboratory analyses, initially focused on assisting with the core Level 1 measurements. We are working with the IOC⿿s Ocean Teacher Global Academy (OTGA) and with Ocean Best Practices to begin scoping a new curriculum framework that will be globally portable to support international collaboration. The curriculum will be hosted in the cloud for universal access and ongoing refinement, and will include video training materials, and translation into regional languages. The program funding plan anticipates generating support for about half of the project cost from one or more major foundations, with the other half cost-shared between sponsoring regional nations and participating regional science teams. Support and input on program development is currently being sought from the Indian Ocean science community. |