IIOE-2: A Global Effort for Advancing the Understanding of the Indian Ocean — Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
  1. Schedule
  2. 02(i). New insights into Indian Ocean dynamics, variability, and change
  3. IIOE-2: A Global Effort for Advancing the Understanding of the Indian Ocean

IIOE-2: A Global Effort for Advancing the Understanding of the Indian Ocean (#30)

Nick D'Adamo 1 , Sarah Gardner 1 , Shailesh Nayak 2 , Satheesh Shenoi 3 , Hermann Bange 4 , Raleigh Hood 5
  1. Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, Perth, Australia
  2. National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of Science Campus, Bengaluru, India
  3. Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, Hyderabad, India
  4. GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Kiel, Germany
  5. University of Maryland, Maryland, USA

The Indian Ocean has a profound effect on the global climate as well as the environments and economies of 22 countries and one-third of the world's population. The first global effort was made to understand the Indian Ocean during 1959-65, as the First International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE). The IIOE-2 continues this global coordination to advance the understanding of physical, biological and geological processes in the Indian Ocean and to assess its role on climate and regional socioeconomics. A multi-disciplinary Science Plan and an Implementation Strategy provide guiding frameworks for engagement in the IIOE-2, which is coordinated by two nodes of the IIOE-2 Joint Project Office (one node based in Perth, Australia and the other in Hyderabad, India). To date, 28 countries are involved in through 35 projects endorsed by the IIOE-2 Steering Committee, which is overseen by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research, and Indian Ocean Global Ocean Observing System regional alliance. Eight countries have established IIOE-2 National Committees for better coordination and involvement. The endorsed activities involve major research cruises cutting across all six themes of the IIOE-2 Science Plan (human impacts and benefits; boundary current and upwelling variability; monsoon variability; circulation and climate change; extreme events; unique features).

During its initial phase (2015-20) the IIOE-2 has achieved a momentum and enhanced ocean-climate understanding of the Indian Ocean with contemporary relevancy for society across many important disciplines. In concert with ocean observations, the Expedition has built research capacity by connecting emerging scientists across developed and developing countries. These important outputs have seen the IIOE-2 to be endorsed to continue till 2025 and adopted as an established program that can make a material contribution to the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-30, because it addresses many of the elements of the Decade.

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