Australia's Integrated Marine Observing System observation methods and technology review

The Australian Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) as a series of inter-connected and inter-related marine observing infrastructure is designed to deliver data to address five key areas considered important by the Australian marine research community: 1) Multi-decadal ocean change 2) Climate variability and weather extremes 3) Major boundary currents and inter-basin flows 4) Continental shelf processes 5) Ecosystem Responses Gaps in available observational technologies prevent the “perfect” observation of any of the above phenomena, balancing the acceptable loss of observational fidelity with the dollar cost of observing requires knowledge or at least good estimates of the physical system. New sensor technologies and platforms allow us to revisit our observing strategies, and numerical methods based on model analysis allow new insights into the representativeness of our observations as part of an observing network.