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Help Build a Holistic Ocean Observing System: Survey for a Collaborative Ocean Observing Blueprint

How do we collaborate for a better understanding of life in the ocean? How do we enable and facilitate communication at different scales and across sectors?

The Horizon Europe project BioEcoOcean is spearheading efforts to answer these questions and improve collaboration and understanding of marine life through the development of a Blueprint for Integrated Ocean Science (BIOS), or simply referred to as “the Blueprint” (Figure 1).

This innovative tool will aim to guide ocean observing programs in all aspects of ocean observation, from the early planning stages to data collection and management, to their application in policy and decision making. The Blueprint is envisioned to be a co-created question-based tool that facilitates communication and collaboration across sectors through guiding questions. Read more about the Blueprint and its development here.

blueprint-web-figure — *Fig 1. Early graphic demonstrating the components of the Blueprint for Integrated Ocean Science. Lines connecting each component indicate interconnectivity.*

These guiding questions will be designed to be broadly applicable across environments, Essential Ocean Variables, sectors, and other parties, fostering collaboration on complex issues. With co-creation at its core, BioEcoOcean invites the community to contribute through workshops, surveys, and testing.

Contribute to the first BioEcoOcean survey

The first survey, open until 15 January 2025, aims to gather feedback on challenges and opportunities in connecting the suggested components in the Blueprint. It takes 8–10 minutes to complete and primarily asks participants to indicate the degree to which they agree with various statements.

To participate, take the survey here.

For more details or to collaborate on testing early versions, contact BioEcoOcean at bioecoocean@uu.se.