The second Data Buoy Cooperation Panel Western Indian Ocean Capacity Building Workshop will take place at the Mauritius Oceanography Institute in Quatre Bornes, Mauritius, on May 2-6, 2011. The working goal of the workshop is to demonstrate the socio-economic value and benefits of new Indian Ocean Observing systems, such as the Research Moored Array for African-Asian-Australian Monsoon Analysis and Prediction (RAMA), for reducing disaster risk, managing fisheries, and improving predictive capacity for the Western Indian Ocean.
As part of the workshop, NOAA will help provide training in deployments and management of in-situ ocean observations; coordinate with African Monitoring of the Environment for Sustainable Development (AMESD) to conduct in-situ ocean observations for the Western Indian Ocean; and continue to build in-region modeling development teams and observation development teams, including for the implementation of buoy programmes. In exchange, NOAA is receiving 30 days at sea each year aboard the Agulhas-Somali Current Large Marine Ecosystem (ASCLME) Research Vessel Algoa to maintain the RAMA system in the Western Indian Ocean.
Highlights of the workshop will include a keynote address by Dr. Larry Robinson, NOAA’s Assistant Secretary for Conservation & Management, on NOAA’s engagement activities in the Indian Ocean Region. Representing NOAA, he will sign a Memorandum of Agreement with Leyla Tegmo-Reddy, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Regional Director in Mauritius.
This Project Memorandum of Agreement provides a framework for collaboration between ASCLME and NOAA concerning the enhancement of ocean and coastal climate and hazards observations in support of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) and the Indian Ocean Observing System (IndOOS); joint work on RAMA buoy/mooring technology development; and the dissemination, distribution and sharing of ocean data, technical training, and exchanges for both Parties.
To view the workshop agenda and more information, visit the workshop website.
Background: NOAA has been working with India and Indonesia to implement the Central/Eastern Indian Ocean Observing System for the past five years. Now the agency is also working with the Agulhas-Somali Current Large Marine Ecosystem Project to build out the Western Indian Ocean RAMA Array. NOAA’s partners provide gratis ship time while NOAA provides instruments and moorings. NOAA also provides other benefits to its partners under “resource sharing” agreements which include capacity building workshops, and training and education opportunities.
Contact: Sid Thurston, Sidney.Thurston@noaa.gov
Sid Thurston serves as the Data Buoy Cooperation Panel’s chair of capacity building and has been working with an international team to coordinate preparations.
