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Monitoring and predicting the biogeochemical state of the ocean and marine ecosystems is an important application of operational oceanography that needs to be expanded. The accurate depiction of the ocean’s physical environment enabled by Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE) systems, in both real-time and reanalysis modes, is already valuable for various applications, such as the fishing industry and fisheries management. However, most of these applications require accurate estimates of both physical and biogeochemical ocean conditions over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. In this paper, we discuss recent developments that enable the coupling new biogeochemical models and assimilation components with the existing GODAE systems, and we examine the potential of such systems in several areas of interest: phytoplankton biomass monitoring in open oceans, ocean carbon cycle monitoring and assessment, marine ecosystem management at seasonal and longer time scales, and downscaling in coastal areas. A number of key requirements and research priorities are then identified for the future. The GODAE systems will need to improve their representation of physical variables that currently are not yet considered essential, such as upper-ocean vertical fluxes that are critically important to biological activity. Further, the observing systems will need to be expanded in terms of in situ platforms (with intensified deployments of sensors for O2 and chlorophyll, and inclusion of new sensors for nutrients, zooplankton, micronekton biomass, and others), satellite missions (e.g., hyperspectral instruments for ocean color, light detection and ranging (LIDAR) systems for mixed-layer depths, wide-swath altimeters for coastal sea levels), and improved methods to assimilate these new measurements.

Global warming projections using a range of climate models included in the IPCC 4th assessment report (AR4) suggest the oceans will warm, the stratification of the upper ocean will increase and the ventilation of the ocean interior will change. These physical changes will impact dissolved oxygen levels in the ocean. Using a global warming projection from the CSIRO (Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Research Administration) climate model linked to a simple ocean biogeochemical model I investigated how dissolved oxygen levels in the ocean interior change under global warming. The climate simulations project the low oxygen regions like the eastern equatorial Pacific will expand. By the end of the century it is projected that the volume of hypoxic water (Las proyecciones sobre el calentamiento global utilizando un rango de modelos climáticos incluidos en el 4° informe de evaluación del IPCC (AR4), sugiere que los océanos se calentarán, incrementará la estratificación del océano superficial y cambiará la ventilación del océano interior. Estos cambios físicos impactarán sobre los niveles de oxígeno disuelto en el océano. Utilizando una proyección del calentamiento global originado del modelo climático del CSIRO (Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Research Administration) acoplado a un modelo biogeoquímico simple investigo cómo cambiarán los niveles de oxígeno disuelto en el océano interior bajo el calentamiento global. Las simulaciones del clima proyectan que se expandirán las regiones con bajo oxígeno como el Pacífico ecuatorial oriental. Hacia el final del siglo se proyecta que se duplicará el volumen de agua hipóxica (