Setting Observing Targets for Biogeochemical Observing System in the Atlantic Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences, Sopot, Poland 29 November – 1 December 2016

The EU Horizon2020 AtlantOS project aims to optimize and enhance the Integrated Atlantic Ocean Observing System using the Framework for Ocean Observing (FOO) to obtain an international, more sustainable, more efficient, more integrated, and fit-for-purpose system. As such, the project provides a regional realization of the new multidisciplinary Global Ocean Observing System, and contributes towards the implementation of the FOO through the concept of Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs). The development and maintenance of the Biogeochemical EOVs and their specification sheets is an effort carried out by the GOOS Biogeochemistry (BGC) Expert Panel, led by the International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP). With ongoing advances in observing technology, and a set of BGC EOVs already in place, priorities for designing an optimum observing system for marine biogeochemistry are now shifting towards a system-wide definition of a set of accepted observing targets for BGC phenomena and EOVs developed in a process driven by relevant scientific and societal requirements. The challenge is for the observing targets to simultaneously take into account the myriad of spatio-temporal scales of the distinct BGC phenomena of interest and the complex array of corresponding observing elements. The “Setting Observing Targets for Biogeochemical Observing System in the Atlantic” Workshop responds to this challenge by bringing together around 15 experts in biogeochemical observations and modelling to fulfil the following goals:

- Define what an observing target is in the context of the BGC observing system - Decide phenomena for which to set observing targets (based on the list of phenomena developed by AtlantOS WP1) - Set observing targets for BGC phenomena (described by relevant variables) - Analyse feasibility of set targets with respect to current capacities and identified gaps - Provide recommendations for designing an optimized Atlantic Ocean observing system