USGS-NBII Scientist to Participate in Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Executive Council Meeting

Mark Fornwall, NBII's OBIS-USA node manager, will participate in the U.S. delegation during negotiations related to the transfer of the international Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) from its current status as a part of the global Census of Marine Life to a more permanent home in the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC). The move, approved by IOC members at the Assembly last June, will ensure the continued existence of OBIS and foster integration with other oceanographic data systems within the International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) program. The development of regional nodes and the adoption of international standards and protocols for the interoperability of marine biogeographic data within OBIS, is a great successes for the Census of Marine Life.  For the first time, marine biodiversity can be mapped and investigations can be conducted on the biogeography of the world’s oceans, changes in species distributions can be monitored, and causal factors affecting biodiversity can be investigated.

(Photo: Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), Hawaii. Photo by Paul Wang. Photo courtesy of the USGS Newsroom).