ForeSea – Contribution to the UN Decade
Contribution to the vision and mission of the UN Decade
The ForeSea programme’s two theme groupings are aligned with the UN Decade’s vision of “the science we need for the ocean we want”, and the UN Decade’s mission to catalyze “transformative ocean science solutions for sustainable development, connecting people and our ocean”.
ForeSea’s first theme, “Catalyzing transformative ocean prediction science solutions for sustainable development, connecting people and ocean prediction”, will enable mechanisms for ocean prediction science to work with other components to build a global international operational oceanographic capacity. This capacity further enables, in conjunction with WMO activities, the creation of marine environmental prediction services that will further develop the blue economy. Ultimately, this theme advances the implementation of science in ForeSea into sustained prediction services in partnership with other program elements of the Decade (observing systems, digital ocean, etc.).
ForeSea’s second theme, “Increasing impact and relevance: Improving science and science capacity for the ocean we want”, will advance the science needed to evaluate its impact on prediction systems, enabling focus on and enhancement of relevant capabilities and efforts.
Emphasis will be on advancing the science in key areas to:
- Determine how best to capture the precision and utility of ocean prediction systems and
- Develop research and develop methodologies to routinely optimize the ocean observing system for maximum impact on prediction skills
Supporting and contributing to UN Decade outcomes
Outcome 4: A predicted ocean where society understands and can respond to changing ocean conditions.
Outcome 4 is enhanced through ForeSea’s improvements in the science behind ocean prediction, and further enabled by ForeSea co-creation of an international structure to support research, development and operations for operational ocean forecasting systems. These are elements of the full operational oceanography value chain, spanning: needs, observations, data management, analysis, ocean prediction, dissemination via digital ocean, and information service delivery, culminating in end use. In a modern context, this is achieved in conjunction with WMO and IOC groups.
Outcome 5: A safe ocean where life and livelihoods are protected from ocean-related hazards.
Outcome 5 is enabled by applying ForeSea ocean prediction outputs and it is further strengthened through tuning end user feedback, increasing output standardization , and further enabling accessibility to marine environmental prediction output by operational response groups (environmental incident response, search and rescue, etc.) and regulatory groups.
Outcome 6: An accessible ocean with open and equitable access to data, information and technology and innovation.
Outcome 6 is an integral component of the ForeSea programme. ForeSea relies on other groups to design a digital ocean (collaboration with UN Ocean Programme DITTO), while ForeSea aims to populate such digital ocean environments with marine environmental prediction output for past, present and future conditions. The ForeSea data, consequently, enables access to predicted ocean information that society can exploit in a changing environment to achieve Decade outcomes. The predicted ocean information, if accessible to all, enables society in general as well as all Decade programmes to better achieve the desired outcomes.