IMOS Annual Meeting 2024

Welcome to the 2024 IMOS Annual Meeting, which we are pleased to be hosting once again in Hobart. A major focus of this meeting will be on new elements of the program including coastal observing, enhanced data delivery and building linkages for Sea Country observing as well as updates on priorities for the year ahead.

As IMOS works to enhance observing of the Australian coastline, we need to also consider how we will collectively meet this new challenge including intersections with Sea Country and inclusion of First Nations people in the IMOS community. This is an important question for the IMOS community to consider and discuss as we plan for the future.

The open ocean and international linkages are also areas of focus as we look beyond 2024. This includes improving our connections with the Pacific Islands Global Ocean Observing System (PI-GOOS). To begin the conversation and connections, we have invited Jerome Aucan from the Pacific Secretariat (SPC) to discuss the needs of the region and their plans for PI-GOOS.

As always, there will be a focus on driving and demonstrating the uptake and utility of IMOS data, which is paramount to the continuing success of the program. The AODN will provide updates on changes to the system architecture and will explain the potential for a marine data commons. The AODN is seeking community feedback on how IMOS can continue to grow its datasets and reach more end users with the delivery of data products and tools to support expert and non-expert users alike.