1. Coastal & Ocean Observations and Applications: Future Activities
Committee on Earth Observation Satellites
Coastal & Ocean Observations and Applications: Future Activities
Paul DiGiacomo, NOAA, CEOS SIT Team
CEOS 2019 VC/WG/AHT Working Day
Session 2, Agenda Item 2.4
Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
09 September 2019

2. Agenda Day will be divided into two main sessions:
Morning session, which will focus on the proposed organizational and governance changes, including outcomes from the Working Group and Ocean Virtual Constellations Merger Study Teams (WGST and OVCMST, respectively), review of proposed governance changes
Afternoon session that will focus on cross-cutting issues such as data exploitation/use and architecture, discussion about coastal/ocean observations and application strategy, coordination in carbon and greenhouse gas strategies, and other business.

3. Coastal and Ocean Observations & Applications
Who?
CEOS Agencies - respective interests in coastal and ocean observations & applications, including flooding/inundation, water quality, ecosystems, hazards et al.
CEOS Virtual Constellations – Ocean VCs, also LSI et al.
CEOS WGs and AHTs/AHWGs – Disasters, CapD, SDGs, Climate, IP(?), et al.
Initiatives and activities: COVERAGE, GEO/LEO integration, et al.

4. Coastal and Ocean Observations & Applications
What?
Internal CEOS activities and initiatives
Ocean/coasts still emerging area for CEOS; mostly VCs to date
Status and future directions for COVERAGE?
GEO/LEO/SAR Integration – flooding; water quality?
Contributions of WGs? AHTs (SDG et al)? VCs?
Emerging/Future Chair priorities relative to coasts/ocean?
External engagement with partners, organizations & entities
Many international groups, initiatives etc dealing with coastal & ocean observations and applications, e.g., IOC/GOOS, UN Environment, WMO, GEO Initiatives (Blue Planet et al.)
CEOS direct engagement has not been extensive to date

5. Coastal and Ocean Observations & Applications
How?
How should CEOS engage internally in terms of identifying and implementing priority thematic activities and initiatives?
How should CEOS engage externally in terms of supporting international community activities relative to coastal and ocean observations and applications, including:
GEO Initiatives: Blue Planet, AquaWatch, Wetlands, etc
Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 6, SDG 14 etc.
OceanObs’19 Follow-up: IOC/GOOS et al.
United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development ( )

6. Proposed Way Forward (April 2019 SIT Meeting)
Initiate an (ad hoc) coastal observing and applications working group under the auspices of GEO Blue Planet, bringing together interested data providers (e.g., CEOS agencies) and users (e.g., UN Environment, Future Earth Coasts).
Request this WG revisit and update the coastal observing requirements previously articulated in the IGOS Coastal Theme Report and produce an associated CEOS Coastal Strategy Assessment to enhance coordination across the land-sea boundary.
Initiate targeted demonstration project/s focusing on flooding, water quality, eutrophication, HABs, and/or other ecosystem impacts, addressing coastal urban regions, deltaic/estuarine, and heavily impacted (natural/anthropogenic) regions in both developed and developing areas (e.g., Puerto Rico, Vietnam, Great Barrier Reef, Chesapeake Bay)

7. Proposed Way Forward (con’t)
(April 2019 SIT Meeting)
3) Initiate targeted demonstration project/s focusing on flooding, water quality, eutrophication, HABs, and/or other ecosystem impacts, addressing coastal urban regions, deltaic/estuarine, and heavily impacted (natural/anthropogenic) regions in both developed and developing areas (e.g., Puerto Rico, Vietnam, Great Barrier Reef, Chesapeake Bay)
a. Development of synergistic higher resolution datasets, combining radar (e.g., S1, RCM) & visible imagery (e.g., S2, L8) along with other multi-sensor physical/biological products
b. Focus on event-driven as well as climatological anomalies in both retrospective and NRT modes, including new and improved validation approaches (e.g., drones, saildrones)
c. Initiate prototype coastal knowledge hub in support of emerging GEO vision, including cloud-based, server-side and integrated community best practices and demonstration efforts (e.g., Horizon 2020 Coastal Waters Research Synergy Framework (
4) Generate detailed prospectus for No. 1-3 above and submit for consideration by next SIT Technical Workshop (Sept 2019) and 33rd CEOS Plenary (Oct 2019)
NB: Group discussion regarding a potential coastal workshop but no clear resolution

8. ( Sept 2019 SIT Technical Workshop)
Proposed Way Forward
( Sept 2019 SIT Technical Workshop)
Establish AHT-Coastal (composition to include CEOS and key external partners) to bridge data and information providers (which in turn link to end users);
Plan scoping workshop to address Coastal Information Needs, identifying a limited number of high priority phenomena of interest (e.g., coastal inundation; water quality), assessing attendant user needs and requirements, and with potential pilot activities to be initiated post-workshop;
Produce an associated CEOS Coastal Observations and Applications Plan to enhance coordination across the land-sea boundary both within CEOS and between CEOS and external partners and stakeholders.

9. Coastal and Ocean Observations & Applications
Group discussion and next steps….

10. Potential End-to-end (from CEOS perspective) Value Chain Approach:
Upstream to downstream WGs and themes – oceans example
WG-Obs
WGCV
WGISS
WGIP
WGCapD
(former VCs; ensures ↑ visibility)
Thematic sub-groups
WG-Climate (links to GCOS; Paris Climate Agreement)
WG-Disasters (Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction)
AHT-SDGs (2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development)
AHT-Coastal?
etc
Obs disciplinary sub-groups:
Atm Land Ocean
Ocean SubWG, ~10-15 folks, 2 per each below)
OCR (links to IOCCG)
OST (links to OSTST)
OSVW (links to IOVWST)
SST (links to GHRSST)
SAR (informal science team)
SSS (informal science team)
Cryosphere
(links to GOOS)
GEO Initiatives and Flagships
Red = new WG/AHT/ST