Oceanographic Services are delivered through two individual outputs that contribute to the achievement of the desired outcome. The developments relating to each individual output during 2003-04 and their contribution to the outcome are considered below.

HIGH SEAS OCEANOGRAPHIC SERVICES 

High Seas Oceanographic Services provide the community, industry and major sectoral users with information on, and forecasts of, oceanographic conditions on the high seas, including the largest part of Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). These services are the focus of an intensive development project currently underway, with the CSIRO and RAN as joint contributors. Analyses and cross-sections of ocean temperature data, from the surface and subsurface, have been long-standing products of the high seas oceanographic service. Under the development project, the scope of the services is planned to expand significantly as new analysis and prediction products, depicting a range of physical properties of the ocean including currents and water circulation patterns as well as temperature, become operational over the next few years.

Major developments 2003-04

• The official launch of the Ocean Modelling & Services System (OMSS) a joint Bureau, CSIRO and RAN project, called BLUElink, in October 2003. This project is valued at $15m through joint contribution by the participating agencies. The new system will provide 'ocean weather' maps, based on ocean observations from satellites, robotic instruments, moored and drifting buoys, research vessels, commercial shipping, and coastal tide gauges. These will include information on ocean currents and eddies, as well as the changes in the ocean on and below the surface that affect maritime and defence operations, the life cycles of marine creatures, and regional and global climate.
• Development and launch of the BLUElink web site (www.marine.csiro.au/bluelink) in collaboration with CSIRO, with its initial focus on public outreach.
• Agreement by the Bureau and a number of other Australian government marine agencies on the establishment and operation of a new Australian Oceanographic Data Centre (AODC). The AODC will be a functionally distributed organisation. The collection, assembly, quality control and archival of the respective oceanographic data holdings will be managed by the contributing agencies themselves. Community access to the overall holdings will then be coordinated and facilitated through a common portal operated by the AODC. It is expected to be fully implemented by mid-2005.

Contribution towards outcome

• The development of the OMSS / BLUElink project will contribute to the safety and wellbeing of mariners, marine-based industry and other operators whose activities take place in the open ocean environment, through the provision of new products and services to be enabled as new operational systems and products are implemented to underpin the Bureau's oceanographic services. The new services will engender more effective use of oceanic environment data for improved management of marine resources and enhanced economic outcomes.
• Establishment of the new distributed AODC will contribute significantly to the effective use of oceanographic data and data services, particularly in support of marine resource and environment management and in furthering the efficiency of economic enterprises in the marine environment.

From the left, Andreas Schiller (CSIRO), Commander Craig Roy (RAN), Rick Bailey (Bureau), Parliamentary Secretary with ministerial responsibility for the Bureau, Dr Sharman Stone, and Dr Neville Smith (Bureau) at the launch of BLUElink in Sydney in October. Photo: Royal Australian Navy.

COASTAL OCEANOGRAPHIC SERVICES 

Coastal Oceanographic Services provide the community, industry and major sectoral users with information and forecasts of oceanographic conditions in Australian coastal areas, and adjacent coastal seas. The main areas of offshore activity, including coastal shipping, oil and gas exploration and extraction, fishing, transport and recreational sailing, are generally concentrated near the coast. Given this concentration of activity, and the significant associated economic benefits, coastal services are being shaped and targeted to reach coastal users who constitute the largest proportion of users of oceanographic services in the nation.

Services are being expanded in line with the growing demand for detailed information on temperature and circulation structures, wave conditions, tides and sea level fluctuations, which have a significant bearing on understanding the behaviour and economic productivity of coastal margins and the long term health and viability of the ecosystems involved. The information provided also has strong connections to monitoring future climate change. Development of these services is also linked to the OMSS / BLUElink project currently underway.

Major developments 2003-04

• Considerable progress in the development of the OMSS / BLUElink project. Services enabled by the project will provide information on coastal and ocean currents and eddies, and environmental changes below the surface that impact maritime and defence operations and the life cycles of marine creatures, as well as regional and global climate.
• Successful transfer of the former National Tidal Facility Australia (NTFA), which was operated as an arm of the Flinders University of South Australia, into Bureau operations in late 2003 as the National Tidal Centre (NTC). The NTC will largely continue to carry out the public good functions served by the NTFA by providing sea level expertise and scientific advice to the general and specialist user communities. The services provided include technical expertise on sea level gauge deployment, sea level and tidal data quality control and management, and consulting advice on tsunami detection for the Australian Tsunami Alert System operated by the Bureau, Geoscience Australia and Emergency Management Australia. The NTC also continues to service contracts for the routine prediction of tides at major ports and locations around the Australian coast, and to operate and/or manage the data from sea level gauge networks in Australian States and South Pacific Island countries.

Contribution towards outcome

• The development of the OMSS / BLUElink project will contribute to the safety and wellbeing of mariners, marine-based industry and other operators whose activities take place in coastal areas, through the provision of new products and services which will be enabled as the new operational systems and products are implemented. These new coastal oceanographic services are being developed to directly support the management of marine resources and enhanced outcomes for the large range of economic activities conducted near coastal areas. The services will significantly improve the range of coastal environmental data available for application in real-time operations, planning and marine policy development.
• Operation of the NTC in the Bureau will significantly improve the provision of sea level and tidal services to the nation through its incorporation into the Bureau's robust planning, funding and round-the-clock operational environments. This will enhance the safety of all operators requiring tidal predictions and information, and particularly port operators and shipping for whom optimal passage in and out of port is a significant economic factor. It will also contribute to the more effective use of tidal and sea level information through improved operation and maintenance of the national benchmark sea level network and increased accessibility of data and services through the Bureau's service delivery networks.