The FIRST IOC/WESTPAC TRAINING COURSE ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL IODE OCEAN DATA PORTAL NODES will be held in Seoul, Republic of Korea between 31 August – 4 September 2009, kindly co-sponsored and hosted by the Republic of Korea.

IOC Circular Letter No. 2305, inviting nominations for participants in the course has been sent out today to Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan, DPR Korea, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Russian Federation, Thailand, USA and Vietnam. Responses are due by 30 June 2009. Circular Letter can be downloaded HERE

The summary report of the Twentieth Session of the IODE Committee (4-8 May 2009, Beijing, China) is now available HERE

An executive summary, prepared for the 25th Session of the IOC Assembly is available HERE

The Twentieth Session of the IOC Committee on International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange concluded its deliberations today in Beijing, China with the adoption of its Summary Report. The Committee unanimously re-elected Dr Malika Bel-Hassen Abid (Tunisia) and Mr Greg Reed (Australia) as Co-Chairs for the next inter-sessional period (2009-2011). The Session was attended by 67 participants from 35 countries and 4 organizations. 

At the closing ceremony Mr Greg Reed stated that this 20th session of the IODE committee has been very successful and has made important decisions about the future of the programme. He thanked the Committee for its support and contribution. Mr Reed then summarized some the highlights of the Session:

• IODE Ocean Data Portal: Good progress was made in the development of the IODE ODP  Project, however the Committee needs to ensure that more members contribute as data providers. IODE must also work with other portal projects, such as SeaDataNet, to ensure interoperability between these different  systems as NODCs cannot be expected to install multiple portal applications.
• OBIS: The committee has expressed its opinion that OBIS should become part of the IODE programme and this message will be conveyed to the IOC Assembly in June.
• The Groups of Experts have submitted an extensive work plans for the next two years and the IODE officers will monitor progress.
• ODINWESTPAC has also developed a comprehensive work plan and this should ensure the further expansion of the work of IODE in this region. In addition there is has been renewed interest in re-invigorating the ODINCINDIO and ODINCARSA projects.

Mr Reed concluded by noting that IODE-XX had adopted a very extensive work plan for the next intersessional period and he stated that both himself and Dr Malika Bel Hassen Abid looked forward to providing leadership of IODE for the next two years.

Finally Dr Malika Bel Hassen Abid, Mr Greg and Mr Peter Pissierssens (Technical Secretary IOC/IODE), on behalf of the Committee thanked the IODE-XX hosts of the State Oceanic Administration and the National Marine Data and Information Service for their support in making this meeting such a success.  

The Summary Report and Executive Summary (which will be made available to the 25th Session of the IOC Assembly) will be available within 2 weeks. For more information contact This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Beijing, 8 May 2009 - IODE adopts Statement on the Future of OBIS

After considered discussion of the options, IODE came to the view that the preferred option wasthe adoption of OBIS as an IODE programme activity.Hence the Committee agrees in principle that the OBIS programme could be sensibly accommodated within IODE. However without a more finalized version of the OBIS business plan, the financial requirements and thus the financial implications for IODE cannot be fully assessed at this point in time. Thus IODE decided that it would be premature to make a Recommendation at this stage, whilst welcoming the possibility of OBIS becoming a part of IODE. [read more HERE ]