Edson Represents OOI at POGO-26 Meeting in Malaysia

By Amber Coogan | March 10, 2025 |

Jim Edson, Lead Principal Investigator of the NSF’s Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), recently attended the Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean (POGO)-26 Meeting, held in Penang, Malaysia and hosted by the Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (CEMACS). This international gathering brought together leading ocean researchers and policymakers to discuss issues and efforts in global ocean observation, capacity development, and outreach and advocacy.

The meeting covered a wide range of topics, including the role of blue carbon ecosystems in climate mitigation, biomolecular observations and environmental DNA (eDNA), sustainable ocean observation practices, digital twin technologies, marine heatwaves, and the far-reaching impacts of El Niño and La Niña on coastal and marine environments.

As part of the event, Edson participated in a panel discussion and delivered a presentation on the impact of El Niño and La Niña in the Northeast Pacific, drawing on a decade of Endurance Array data collected by OOI. His talk highlighted the importance of long-term oceanic datasets in understanding and predicting climate-driven changes in marine environments. The presentation sparked significant discussion among attendees, emphasizing the growing need for sustained ocean observations to improve forecasting, resource management, and climate resilience strategies.

Edson also provided an update on efforts to share metadata between the OOI and OceanSITES/OceanOPS. This effort will make the OOI surface mooring data more discoverable within this global network. This effort is led by the Coastal Global Scale Node (CGSN) team, which is conducting a pilot study using several methods to share the metadata. The OceanSITE component of this effort is supported by GOOS and represents a joint effort between the NSF, NOAA, POGO and GOOS.

By participating in POGO-26, Edson reinforced OOI’s role as a key contributor to global ocean monitoring efforts and OOI’s commitment to providing high-quality, long-term ocean data that can inform scientific research and decision-making worldwide.