Australian planning towards GOOS

P. A. Riley and N. R. Smith Bureau of Meteorology,

GPO Box 1289K, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia

As an island nation, Australia relies heavily on the marine environment, a fact which has received recognition through a number of recent government initiatives to enhance the monitoring of the nation's coastal and ocean environments. These, together with Australia's existing monitoring programs, provide a base on which the groups planning Australia's contribution to GOOS hope to build. A scientific plan identifying required components is being prepared. The needs of Australia and the existing and potential users of an Australian regional observing system provide the principal motivation for the design strategy. Implementation will rely on both initiatives of existing agencies and opportunities arising from new government policies such as the National Oceans Policy.

1. INTRODUCTION

Australia is a coastal community. One quarter of its 18 million population live within 3 km of the coast, and two-thirds reside in its coastal towns and cities. It relies heavily on the marine environment, not only as an important source of economic resources, but also as a fundamental modulating influence on its natural, cultural and social environment. Australia's 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), proclaimed in 1994 under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is over 11 million km2 in area, and spans almost 60° in latitude from Torres Strait (10°S) in the north, to Antarctica in the south, and 72° in longitude from Norfolk Island in the east to Cocos/Keeling Island in the west. Its Fishing Zone, which excludes the part of the EEZ bordering Antarctica, has an area of 8.94 million km2, and is the third largest in the world. Figure 1 locates Australia and shows its Exclusive Economic Zone.

Planning for GOOS in Australia builds on a considerable base of both research into and operational monitoring of the oceans and the coastal zone. Active research is carried out in a number of institutions including universities, the Australian Institute of Marine Science, various divisions of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies, the Bureau of Meteorology and others. In recent years the importance of conservation of marine resources has been increasingly recognised by all levels of Australian government, leading to policies and initiatives emphasising the need for ongoing monitoring of the marine environment. This existing foundation of expertise and the recognition of the need for ongoing monitoring provides a basis upon which those planning Australia's contribution to GOOS hope to build.

Australia and its EEZ
Figure 1. Australia and its EEZ. Five proposed initial sites of the Coastal Monitoring Network are indicated (see §4.3). They are: *1. Alligators Rivers Region - wet-dry tropics, Aboriginal land, significant conservation and tourist influence. 2. The estuary and catchment of a major river discharging into the Great Barrier Reef region - humid tropics, World Heritage area. *3. Jervis Bay - humid temperate coast, Aboriginal and conservation significance. 4. St. Vincent's Gulf - inverse estuary on temperate, arid and eroding coast, significant pressure from urbanisation 5. NW shelf - large scale commercial interest (offshore oil and gas) in significant marine area adjacent to tropical arid coast.

(* these sites have already been established)

2. CURRENT OCEAN MONITORING ACTIVITIES

2.1. Government Jurisdictions and Policies

The Commonwealth of Australia is a federation of states, which leads to three spheres of government sharing responsibility for the management of the coastal zone and offshore waters and their resources. The legislative basis for planning and management of the land area of the coastal zone is generally provided by the State Governments; Local Government is generally responsible for the day-to-day decision making; the Commonwealth, i.e. national, Government and the States both have responsibility for the offshore area. The States have been granted title to, and legislative power over, the seabed within three nautical miles of the territorial sea baselines. The Commonwealth Government has primary responsibility from 3 to 12 nautical miles in the territorial sea and beyond in the EEZ and to the edge of the Continental Shelf. Within each level of government, a number of different departments may have responsibility. This legislative structure can lead to inconsistent policies from different parts of the bureaucracy and delays in approval and licensing processes.

2.2. Commonwealth Government Agencies involved in Coastal and Ocean Monitoring

A number of Commonwealth Government agencies have specific responsibilities for monitoring Australia's marine environment and the adjacent oceans:

The Bureau of Meteorology provides meteorological, hydrological and oceanographic services in support of Australia's national needs and international obligations. The Bureau has the prime responsibility in Australia for marine forecast and warning services and for Australia's climate record, and operates a Specialised Oceanographic Centre of the Integrated Global Ocean Services System. It provides a climate monitoring and seasonal climate prediction service which depends heavily upon sea surface temperature (SST) and ENSO information. The Bureau also provides the secretariat support, and much of the leadership, for GOOS and GCOS planning within Australia.

The National Tidal Facility (NTF) carries out sea-level monitoring, part of which involves operating stations in the Australian Baseline Sea Level Monitoring Project.

The Australian Oceanographic Data Centre (AODC) is the focal point for Australian data exchanged through the International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) program of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC).

The most significant Commonwealth Government agencies in relation to coastal monitoring are the Australian Nature Conservation Agency (ANCA) and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA). ANCA is the principal Commonwealth agency with responsibility for the conservation and management of terrestrial and marine areas of national and international conservation significance, and the conservation and management of marine wildlife in the waters of Australia's continental shelf. GBRMPA monitors and conducts research on the Great Barrier Reef, and regulates economic development on it.

The Commonwealth Government has also initiated in recent years a number of programs aimed at the conservation and sustainable use of Australia's coastal and marine environments. One is a National Marine Information System (NatMIS) to provide information on all aspects of Australia's marine environments including fisheries, mineral resources, ocean currents and climate, and the distribution of marine life around the coastline. It will assist in monitoring the health and biodiversity of Australia's marine environments. Another is the State of the Marine Environment Report (Zann, 1995), the first comprehensive description of Australia's marine environment, its uses and values, the issues and threats affecting it, and its management. An issue of concern noted by the report was a lack of long-term research and monitoring of the marine environment. The report provided input to Australia: State of the Environment 1996 (State of the Environment Advisory Council, 1996), a more general report which formed the first step in the development of a state of the environment reporting system to support Australia's National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development. This system has implications for the development of GOOS in Australia, as discussed later.

2.3. State Government Activities

Australian State Governments have, in general, established Environment Protection Authorities (EPAs), or similar bodies, which have a role in protecting the near-shore marine environment, especially for the health of coastal waters. Many of their activities contribute to coastal monitoring. Some examples are: water quality monitoring programs; 'beachwatch' programs providing public information about water quality at city beaches during summer; digitised aerial or satellite photographs of marine and coastal waters including seagrass beds and mangroves; and analyses of biota (such as mussels and fish) and sediments. Other State Government initiatives include wave-rider buoy networks to provide data for coastal engineering works. The operation of some of these monitoring systems has been contracted to private companies.

3. SUPPORT FOR AUSTRALIAN COASTAL AND OCEAN OBSERVING SYSTEMS

Apart from activities specifically aimed at the implementation of GOOS in the Australian region, a number of reports from Australian science and industry groups have called for an enhancement of the monitoring of the nation's coasts and ocean waters. The most significant of these are the reports of the Resource Assessment Commission's Coastal Zone Inquiry and the Ocean Outlook Congress, and the Marine Industry Development Strategy developed by the Australian Marine Industries and Sciences Council.

The Coastal Zone Inquiry (Resources Assessment Commission, 1993), commissioned by the Commonwealth Government, made a comprehensive set of recommendations for integrated coastal zone management. These were largely embodied in the Commonwealth Coastal Policy of 1994 (Department of the Environment, Sport and Territories, 1995). A coastal monitoring network, discussed later, is being developed to achieve some of the policy objectives.

The Ocean Outlook Congress took place in 1994, coinciding with the coming into force of Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). It brought major players from government, industry and science face to face to consider the implications of the EEZ for Australia. The recommendations of the Congress included implementation of a national marine environment modelling, management and monitoring system and a national EEZ mapping and resources survey (Ocean Outlook Congress, 1994).

A Marine Industry Development Strategy has been prepared by the Australian Marine Industries and Sciences Council, an advisory body of industry representatives providing advice to the Commonwealth Government (AMISC, 1997). It aims to outline a framework for the development of internationally competitive and ecologically sustainable marine industries in Australia. The report's recommendations, which are being considered for inclusion in a Commonwealth Marine Science and Technology Plan, include the development of an adequately resourced National Marine Data Program.

4. PLANNING FOR AN AUSTRALIAN CONTRIBUTION TO GOOS

Planning of Australia's participation in GOOS is occurring through the Australian GCOS/GOOS Joint Working Group, which comprises senior representatives from a range of relevant disciplines and organisations, supported by two Expert Sub-Groups. A GOOS Expert Sub-Group provides scientific oversight for the development of an Australian contribution to GOOS, as well as advice on implementation. The other Sub-Group addresses the Global Climate Observing System. The work of the GOOS Expert Sub-Group has been guided, but not constrained, by the development of the international GOOS plan. In particular, the needs of Australia and the existing and potential users of an Australian regional observing system provide the principal motivation for the design strategy and drive, albeit indirectly, the implementation. Figure 2 shows the scope of the five GOOS modules in the Australian context. A significant difference from the international planning is the extension of the coastal zone module to include the in-shore environment (estuaries, mangroves, dune systems etc.) and its restriction to within a few kilometres of the coast.

4.1. Components of an Australian Ocean Observing System

The domains of interest currently being considered by the GOOS Expert Sub-Group are given below (Bureau of Meteorology, 1994).
Component Issues
1. Short-range climate prediction Effects on Australian climate of variability in the Pacific Ocean (ENSO) and variability in the Indian Ocean
2. Climate monitoring and climate change detection A high quality sea level network, Routine monitoring with hydrographic sections, water mass formation
3. Regional oceanography and marine services SST, wind stress and surface heat and freshwater flux Sea state analyses and forecasts, surface currents Physical effects on coastlines, sand transport, sedimentation, etc.
4. Biogeochemical fluxes and forcing pCO2 , nutrients - principally on land-sea boundary
5. Habitats and communities in coastal waters Ecosystems, Biodiversity, The Great Barrier Reef
6. Open ocean pelagic ecosystems Habitats, Population and community monitoring
7. Fisheries recruitment Stock assessment
8. Monitoring contaminants and pollutants Algal toxins, Herbicides and pesticides
9. Data management Data acquisition, quality control and distribution Product and service management, Archiving
10. Emerging technologies Floats, altimetry, ocean colour, autonomous biological/chemical sensors

The climate initiatives (1 and 2 above) are being developed either by individual agencies or within climate change and/or oceans policies. The Coastal Policy is being used as the framework for developing 5 and 8 and parts of 4 and 7 (See §4.3). Existing systems, principally within the Bureau of Meteorology, will be used to develop 3. Data management is being developed under the guidance of the Commonwealth Spatial Data Committee and specialist task groups. The new National Oceans Policy will, it is hoped, facilitate the development of the other elements. Remote sensing will form a very important component of the observing system for most of the elements.

4.2. Climate Monitoring and Prediction

Climate research and an operational need for a permanent ocean monitoring system (mainly for observing and predicting Australian climate variability associated with the El Nio phenomenon) have guided the development of the plan for the climate component thus far. Details and prioritisation within this component are still evolving but it is clear Australia's contribution will include monitoring of the upper layers of the tropical and subtropical oceans, selected sea level sites, production of various SST and surface flux products (as well as contributions to the associated data sets) and operational ocean analysis and climate prediction models. The CSIRO, the Bureau of Meteorology and the National Tidal Facility are likely to play key roles.

For the ship-of-opportunity program (SOOP), an agreement has been reached between the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology to transfer the low-density expendable bathythermograph (XBT) lines operated by Australia from a research to an operational system run and funded by the Bureau. The Bureau of Meteorology has implemented an operational El Nio prediction model (Kleeman, 1995) which in part depends on the SOOP data.

4.3. The Coastal Zone

In 1994 the Commonwealth Government developed and released the Commonwealth Coastal Policy which included, among other things, an initiative to establish a Coastal Monitoring

GOOS Modules
Figure 2. The elements of an Australian Ocean Monitoring System, in terms of the five international GOOS modules: Climate; Living Marine Resources; Health of the Ocean; Coastal; and Marine Services.

System. The System will be based on a continental-scale monitoring network and a complementary local monitoring program. The announcement of this Policy influenced the work of the GOOS Expert Sub-Group since it effectively defined the path toward implementation of parts of the coastal zone component of Australia's contribution to GOOS. The Policy has made possible a start toward implementation of significant monitoring elements, principally with regard to the health and evolution of the coastal zone and its ecosystems, and provides the basis for a general regional network consistent with the aims of GOOS.

The Coastal (Zone) Monitoring System, as now planned, will have three major elements: a national directory of monitoring programs and a user needs analysis; a coastal monitoring network; and a local community based program. The national directory of monitoring programs, in the form of a computer metadatabase, aims to improve the access of resource managers to the data they need and contribute to the development of integrated coastal monitoring programs. The aims of the proposed coastal monitoring network are to monitor the impacts of human activities within particular coastal regions, provide long-term baseline data to meet policy, management and environmental reporting needs and to develop functional models for coordinating, aggregating and integrating coastal monitoring at various scales. A small pilot network of monitoring sites is being established as an initial step, with two sites having been established to date. The location of these two, and three other areas identified as likely future locations is shown on Figure 1, and details given in the figure caption.

4.4. Regional Oceanography and Marine Services

An ocean analysis system, known as Oceans-EEZ is being developed by the CSIRO Division of Marine Research. It will combine ocean data, including satellite altimetry, surface observations from drifting buoys and ships, and temperature profiles from XBTs, with computer modelling to provide a comprehensive description of the entire EEZ, predicting ocean currents, temperatures, salinities and sea level. Initial work will concentrate on two regions: the Tasman Sea, providing a greater understanding of the East Australian Current; and the Indian Ocean between Australia's north-west and Indonesia, investigating the influence of sea surface temperatures on rainfall variations across Southern Australia. It expected that this system will be put into operational use in collaboration with the Bureau of Meteorology. It will make a contribution to the operational services module of GOOS, providing services to ocean engineering, environmental management, fisheries management, marine emergencies, shipping and defence. It will also provide data for climate monitoring and prediction.

4.5. Future Directions

The Commonwealth Government is currently developing a National Oceans Policy, which will incorporate the Marine Science and Technology Plan mentioned earlier. The major focus of the policy will be the conservation and sustainable development of Australia's ocean resources, particularly within its EEZ. Issues such as marine pollution and living marine resources are obvious candidates for attention by the policy, and monitoring of the physical environment and the ocean's role in climate change (in so far as it is relevant to Australia) have also been flagged as likely components. As such, the policy should provide a vehicle for the implementation of some of the non-coastal zone components of the Australian GOOS contribution. Members of the Australian GOOS planning groups are providing input to the development of the policy, and a formal GOOS submission to the Marine Science and Technology Plan is planned.

The development of a national state of the environment reporting system, mentioned earlier, also presents opportunities for implementing some GOOS components. Draft key indicators for reporting on estuaries and the sea have been classified into seven groups: habitat extent; habitat quality; renewable products (living resources); non-renewable products (minerals etc.); water and sediment quality (nutrients, turbidity); integrated management (e.g. tourism, beach stabilisation); and ecosystem level processes (sea level and SST). It is clear that there is considerable overlap between these and the GOOS elements identified in section 4.1 and this development is also being closely monitored by those planning for GOOS.

5. CONCLUSION

An Australian GCOS/GOOS Joint Working Group and the GOOS Expert Sub-group have now been in existence for four years. Considerable progress has been made toward the drafting of a plan but this development is very strongly linked to the available pathways for implementation. The Coastal Policy provided an opportunity for the development of a coastal monitoring system though, as it turned out, not with sufficient generality to accommodate all needs. Existing agencies might provide, through new initiatives, some opportunities for further development (e.g. climate observations and marine services), as has already occurred in the transformation of the research SOOP XBT program into an operational system. Plans for these components are well advanced. The development of a National Oceans Policy and a national environmental reporting system will provide the first opportunities for implementation of plans for the remaining components. It is intended to have completed a draft Australian GOOS plan by mid-1997 in time for the next Commonwealth Government budgetary cycle and for the planned GOOS Commitments Meeting.

REFERENCES

AMISC, 1997. Marine Industry Development Strategy Report. Commonwealth of Australia.

Bureau of Meteorology, 1994. Report of the Second Meeting of the Australian GOOS Expert Sub-Group. Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne, 5-7 July 1994.

Department of the Environment, Sport and Territories 1995. Living on the Coast: The Commonwealth Coastal Policy. Commonwealth of Australia.

Kleeman R., A.M. Moore and N.R. Smith, 1994. Assimilation of sub-surface thermal data into an intermediate tropical coupled ocean-atmosphere model. Mon. Weath. Rev. Vol 123, pp3103-3113.

Ocean Outlook Congress, 1994. Ocean Outlook: A Blueprint for the Oceans. A Report from the Congress 16-17 November 1994

Resources Assessment Commission 1993, Coastal Zone Inquiry, Final Report. Australian Government Publishing Service.

State of the Environment Advisory Council 1996, Australia: State of the Environment 1996. Australian Government Publishing Service.

Zann, Leon P. 1995. Our sea, our future: major findings of the state of the marine environment report for Australia. Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.