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JERICO RI, the Joint European Research Infrastructure for Coastal Observatories is an integrated pan-European multidisciplinary/multiplatform research infrastructure dedicated to an interdisciplinary appraisal of the coastal marine system environment. It is the coastal component of the future European Ocean Observing System. This Research Infrastructure is designing the future of coastal observation technology for harmonization and interoperability, advanced functionalities, cost efficiency and reliability. The technological developments of the JERICO-S3 EU project aim to strengthen and expand the infrastructure of the European network of coastal observatories. This objective will be achieved with new observing systems and platforms equipped with new technologies for interoperability, innovative sensor packages for multidisciplinary ecosystem monitoring, coupling physics, chemistry and biology. The planned technological developments consist in adapting interoperability standards, inter alia from the NeXOS and EMSODev European projects, developing on- board and on-server smart solutions for adaptive sampling, integrating technologies into dedicated sensor packages, further developing a capacity for high-frequency measurement of low trophic-level biological diversity and contaminants; hence filling critical gaps in the observation of the coastal ocean. An e-infrastructure is being developed and proof tested to integrate digital components (tools), best practices and documentation, from observation data and data products, to methods and coastal observation services

In this paper we review the technologies available to make globally quantitative observations of particles in general—and plankton in particular—in the world oceans, and for sizes varying from sub-microns to centimeters. Some of these technologies have been available for years while others have only recently emerged. Use of these technologies is critical to improve understanding of the processes that control abundances, distributions and composition of plankton, provide data necessary to constrain and improve ecosystem and biogeochemical models, and forecast changes in marine ecosystems in light of climate change. In this paper we begin by providing the motivation for plankton observations, quantification and diversity qualification on a global scale. We then expand on the state-of-the-art, detailing a variety of relevant and (mostly) mature technologies and measurements, including bulk measurements of plankton, pigment composition, uses of genomic, optical and acoustical methods as well as analysis using particle counters, flow cytometers and quantitative imaging devices. We follow by highlighting the requirements necessary for a plankton observing system, the approach to achieve it and associated challenges. We conclude with ranked action-item recommendations for the next 10 years to move toward our vision of a holistic ocean-wide plankton observing system. Particularly, we suggest to begin with a demonstration project on a GO-SHIP line and/or a long-term observation site and expand from there, ensuring that issues associated with methods, observation tools, data analysis, quality assessment and curation are addressed early in the implementation. Global coordination is key for the success of this vision and will bring new insights on processes associated with nutrient regeneration, ocean production, fisheries and carbon sequestration., Frontiers in Marine Science, 6, ISSN:2296-7745

Sensor technology is rapidly advancing, enabling smaller and less expensive instruments to monitor Earth’s environment. It is expected that many more kinds and quantities of networked environmental sensors will be deployed in coming years. This work presents an approach for the smart configuration and integration of marine sensors into an interoperable Sensor Web infrastructure such that the overall life cycle cost of sensors and observing systems is reduced and data has greater societal and scientific value. In this paper some of the objectives related to sensor interface included in the project proposal NeXOS (Next generation, Cost-effective, Compact, Multifunctional Web Enabled Ocean Sensor Systems Empowering Marine, Maritime and Fisheries Management), under the European Commission’s Ocean of Tomorrow call FP7- OCEAN-2013.2, are presented.

This paper explores the uptake processes that different communities use with regards to their standard operating procedures and best practices Across our five case studies, we noted what made uptake processes successful or challenging and distilled a set of recommendations to further develop the OBPS’s approach to supporting communities in developing and converging methods into best practices.

The oceans play a key role in global issues such as climate change, food security, and human health. Given their vast dimensions and internal complexity, efficient monitoring and predicting of the planet’s oceans must be a collaborative effort of both regional and global scale. The first and foremost requirement for such collaborative ocean observing is the need to follow well-defined and reproducible methods across activities: from strategies for structuring observing systems, sensor deployment and usage, and the generation of data and information products, to ethical and governance aspects when executing ocean observing. In this document, “ocean observing” are all activities of the value chain from preparing and conducting observations to impacts on society through applications of information. To meet the urgent, planet-wide challenges we face, methods across all aspects of ocean observing should be broadly adopted by the ocean community and, where appropriate, should evolve into “ocean best practices” or standards. The OBPS provides an opportunity space for the centralized and coordinated improvement of ocean observing methods. While many groups have created best practices, they are scattered across the Web or buried in local repositories and many have yet to be digitized. To reduce this fragmentation, there is now an open access, permanent, digital repository of best practices documentation (oceanbestpractices.org) that is part of the Ocean Best Practices System (OBPS). In addition to the repository, the OBPS includes a peer reviewed journal research topic, a forum for community discussion and a training activity for creating and using best practices. Together, these components serve to realize a core objective of the OBPS, which is to enable the ocean community to create superior methods for every activity in ocean observing from research to operations to applications that are agreed upon and broadly adopted across communities. The Ocean Best Practices Workshop has now become an annual event with Workshop I, Paris 2017 and Workshop II, Paris 2018. The 2019 Workshop III in Oostende encouraged maximum audience participation and was structured with hour-long panels followed by discussion. This format was effective in stimulating ideas and discussions to lay out a future vision of ocean best practices and how OBPS will contribute to improving ocean observing in the decade to come. Breakout Sessions were also a major part of the agenda, to provide opportunities for participants to share insights and importantly to make recommendations to the Panel on Vision for the Next Decade and ultimately the OBPS Steering Group. Published Refereed Current 14.A Manual (incl. handbook, guide, cookbook etc)

The goal of the sixth Ocean Best Practices System workshop (OBPS VI) was to guide the development of best practices and operating practices, to promote their documentation, and to share them widely using the OBPS. The workshop featured two plenaries held in two time zones each and 19 theme sessions held over two weeks. These theme sessions were planned and held by separate communities of practice in ocean science, engineering, and technology. The workshop attracted the attention of a total of 1152 registrants from around the world, with some 600 people attending across time zones in the theme sessions and the plenaries. The workshop allowed the different communities of practice to focus on the creation, documentation and use of best practices working with members of the OBPS Steering Group. It drew on the experience of OBPS User Groups and stakeholders and provided an opportunity to gather feedback on how the system should evolve to better fulfil each community’s vision, mission, and needs. A common theme was that the broad ocean observing community appreciates the opportunities provided by the OBPS to focus on best practices. The community requested that this service be continued through additional workshops, opportunities to publish and share documents through the OBPS, and allow for cross-fertilization between different sectors of the community. Published Non Refereed Current 14.a Reports with methodological relevance

The 4th Evolving and Sustaining Ocean Best Practices Workshop was held online during the period 17-30 September 2020, addressing community needs for advanced method development and implementation in ocean observations, data management and applications. The workshop consisted of three plenary sessions and eleven Working Group meetings. These Working Groups, who met multiple times during 21-24 September, included topics in: Convergence of methods and endorsement of best practices Data and information management: towards globally scalable interoperability Developing community capacities for the creation and use of best practices Ethics and best practices for ocean observing and applications Fisheries Marine Litter/Plastics Omics/eDNA Partnership Building Sargassum Surface Radiation Uncertainty Quantification The workshop participants came from across the globe (see Figure 1 under Participants) and had a wide range of interests relating to the ocean. The workshop focused on ways that ocean observing across the value chain (from observations to end user decisions) can use best practices to improve interoperability and our knowledge of the oceans. Ocean practitioners collaboratively addressed best practices as well as recommendations for the Ocean Best Practices System (OBPS) which will guide its next implementation phase. The recommendations (see Section 8) will broaden community engagement and help the OBPS serve the community and advance efforts along the following key dimensions : Data, Information, Knowledge Endorsement of methodological documents by communities Uptake of methodologies by communities Convergence of methods across scales (thematic, local, regional, global) Development paths – how does a region/community build best practices? What does your region need? How can the OBPS better support that? Published Refereed Current 14.A Manual (incl. handbook, guide, cookbook etc)