Accurate information about how our environment is changing needs reliable long-term observations in order to assess these changes. Australia’s Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) was established under an Australian Government research infrastructure program, to deliver ocean observations to the marine and climate scientists to undertake research of national and international significance. IMOS is integrated across spatial and temporal scales, supporting open- ocean and climate science as well as science at continental shelf scale and marine coastal science. It has observing assets in Australia’s tropical north, temperate regions, and the Southern Ocean down to the Antarctic shelf. It is also integrated across disciplines ranging from physics and chemistry to marine biology and ecosystems. Making all of the data openly available ensures that this collective observational power is used by many stakeholders to generate a wide range of scientific outputs, from PhDs’ and peer-reviewed publications to operational ocean forecasts and satellite products.
Some of the IMOS observing platforms include:
The Australian Ocean Data Network is also IMOS key Facility with a long-term goal of building an open-access, standards-based, scalable, national information infrastructure providing not only IMOS data but also data from other agencies. The sustained physical, chemical and biological observations collected by IMOS provide a wealth of data for potential applications to fish and fisheries research.