The Ocean Acidification Monitoring Prioritization Plan is a new report by the Interagency Working Group on Ocean Acidification. The report meets a key requirement of the Coordinated Ocean Observations and Research Act of 2020. The plan details how to guide U.S. government efforts towards ocean acidification monitoring that could be deployed to meet the gaps described in the Ocean Chemistry Coastal Community Vulnerability Assessment. The plan is complementary to the Strategic Plan for Federal Monitoring and Research of Ocean Acidification, the U.S. Ocean Acidification Action Plan, and the Ocean Climate Action Plan.
This plan describes how monitoring could address research needs and provide information on the threat that ocean acidification poses to coastal economies, ecosystems, and communities, with an emphasis on leveraging existing assets. The recommended monitoring approaches follow the themes of 1) improving modeling efforts and trend analysis and 2) determining the vulnerability of biological resources. It also discusses additional challenges and opportunities that need to be considered when developing a monitoring network, including technological capabilities, workforce development, industry and community engagement, regional and international collaboration, and data management and synthesis.
