Stakeholder Outreach
The Interagency Ocean Observation Committee (IOOC) is holding a series of workshops engaging national stakeholders and private industries that directly and indirectly receive benefits of the Integrated Ocean Observing System. These workshops are attended by participants from academia, government, industry, and nonprofits.
Distinguished speakers explore how better economic, environmental, and safety decision-making result from improved understanding and monitoring of the oceans. Sectors represented at these events include:
Agriculture, Aviation, Construction, Energy, Finance, Fishing & Aquaculture, Health Care, Insurance, Leisure, Manufacturing, Mining, Retail, Tourism, Transportation, and Utilities.
Stakeholder Case Studies
Previous workshops have enabled specific industry users to share their methods of coping with environmental uncertainty and how observations support their decision-making.
A Case Study in Energy
Sempra Energy in California demonstrated its use of ocean observations and measurements in their operations. The company used observations in its LNG regasification terminal design, regulating ocean water use in cooling power plants, and prediction of summer temperature trends. Overall, observations contributed to the utilities development of short- and long-term forecasts of demand to facilitate system planning, construction and operations. Heightened environmental regulations and climate change are making observations increasingly important to energy companies.
A Water Utility Case Study
Public county water utility agencies explained how observing data enhanced several activities related to their master planning including operational support and system optimization, more accurate water quality analyses, detailed emergency planning and water security analyses, and quality control check of other data sets. Data and models helped calculate climate change inputs into forecast models to plan expansion of their system capacity (sources of supply, transmission, treatment), evaluate the effectiveness of conservation measures, and prepare contingency plans for water shortages.
A Transportation Case Study
In the Gulf of Mexico region, the U.S. Department of Transportation reported on the anticipated impacts on infrastructure from more severe weather occurrences and showed that observation data can inform appropriate, pre-emptive actions that will ultimately be less costly. Increased flooding of roadways, rail lines, and other transportation facilities will persist and worsen from overloaded drainage systems, silt and debris buildup are affecting channel depth at ports and increase dredging costs, and severe weather is leading to more flight delays and cancellations. Observations are essential for reducing the impacts of climate uncertainty for transportation.
