Summary

The Bluewater and Climate Node provides the scientific underpinning for the collection of open ocean observations from the open ocean region surrounding Australia. The major focus is the long term scales of climate change research. Support is also provided to short time-scales associated with seasonal forecasting and ocean prediction. While the predominant emphasis in ocean observing systems has been with the physical and dynamical state of the ocean (sea level, temperature, salinity, currents), there is also a growing recognition both nationally and internationally of the importance of acquiring biogeochemical and ecological observations on a routine basis.

The Bluewater and Climate Node has research interests in the tropical and western Pacific, the Indian Ocean, and the Southern Ocean (to the Antarctic coast). These interests extend toinclude regional features such the East Australian Current, the Leeuwin Current, the Coral and Tasman Sea regions, and the Indo- Pacific Throughflow.