Operationalising the Surface Ocean Carbon Value Chain

The ocean is a key component of the Global Carbon Cycle, absorbing about a quarter of our CO2 emissions, slowing climate change, and giving us time to implement mitigation, adaptation and CDR actions. Any reduction in this uptake will reduce the time available for us to adjust, leading to extra costs, hence there is a strong economic imperative to measure ocean uptake in near real time as part of the ‘system of systems’ needed for the global stocktake. This uptake is measured via the 'Ocean Carbon Value Chain' which links observing, data management and synthesis together to provide annual estimates of ocean uptake to the COP in support of policy making. However, this chain is weakening, with reductions in data availability leading to higher uncertainty in our estimates of ocean C uptake with implications for the cost of reaching net zero. A long term ambition to address this issue has been to create a surface CO2 observing network (SOCONET) however these efforts have been hampered by a lack of global consensus around the details of implementation. A huge milestone was achieved in 2023 when over 100 ocean scientists from across the globe met in Ostend, Belgium in 2002 to formally commit to
ຈ Formalising the structures of SOCONET to create a robust and resilient GOOS network bringing together surface ocean CO₂ observing efforts
ຈ Developing a clear pathway to securing a robust, resilient and scalable data management system for the long term based on the already existing Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT)
ຈ Supporting and quantitatively underpin the efforts above with observing system experiments to determine the optimal surface ocean CO2 observing system required for policy making
These commitments from the science community are accompanied by a series of actions required to deliver them as listed below
i) Stabilise support for existing high accuracy data collection efforts
ii) Develop internationally agreed rules to measure within country’s Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ)
iii) Support a SOCONET coordination structure via dedicated, long-term sustainable funding mechanisms
iv) Equip all oceanographic research vessels with high quality surface ocean carbon observing instruments
v) Coordinate the use of emerging autonomous surface technologies and sailing boats to obtain data from remote, traditionally hard to reach places
vi) Develop funding mechanisms to support SOCAT as the data platform for quality-controlled surface ocean data
vii) Support a dedicated surface ocean GHG observing system design activity with regular evaluation and refinement of the design
viii) Support innovation in surface ocean air-sea CO₂ flux mapping techniques and routine releases of ocean CO₂ flux products
ix) Support development, innovation and availability of relevant satellite-borne data products
x) Address lack of capacity in the surface ocean carbon value chain through training and new career opportunities
xi) Develop a review process to ensure that we innovate and develop the surface ocean carbon value chain in response to new information, science challenges, technological innovations and changes in the global carbon cycle
Further details of both the commitments and associated actions are available at https://www.ioccp.org/images/Gnews/Declaration_on_Operationalising_the_…).