Sampling Once…Using Data Multiple Times

Marine ecosystem variability shows large fluctuations on a wide variety of scales, from seconds to millennia and from local to global. This limits our ability to observe these systems and to develop good tools to predict how changes in the environment may affect their physical and biological properties. It also limits our ability to differentiate anthropogenic from natural processes. An example is how difficult it is to compare data collected in different sampling locations and at different times. Time series data help resolve both short- and longer-term scales of variability and provide context for traditional process-oriented studies. Time series projects focusing on biogeochemical and ecological observations have yielded important scientific results. They have helped to: (i) evaluate the statistical significance of the ranges of variability of many parameters and environmental variables and biological communities, and (ii) quantify and evaluate the dimension of the interactions between key physical/chemical oceanographic processes and biological rates in plankton communities. As a result, time series are helping estimate warming rates and trends as well as the effects of global change on biota. They have established reference baselines to evaluate the magnitude of environmental perturbations and estimate recovery times on biodiversity and productivity of specific trophic levels. In spite of their scientific value, marine time series are difficult to maintain over time because of costs and availability of trained personnel. Only a few survive beyond a decade.

There is great potential in sharing and combining marine data sets from different time series programs from around the world. This allows for comparisons of changes occurring in distant locations, and helps detect changes that occur at broad scales, perhaps even global scales, and to distinguish them from local imbalances or fluctuation. Sharing data can have important economic and social benefits. For instance, efficient use of existing marine data represents a significant cost saving from the 2 billion Euro spent each year now in the EU collecting and accessing to marine data. From the social point of view, the demand from different stakeholders for answers to the challenges posed by changes in the marine environment is growing rapidly. Sharing and accessing time series data would reduce the uncertainties in the management of marine resources and ecosystem services.

The UNESCO IOC advocates that: (i) an observation not made today is lost forever, (ii) existing observations are lost if not made accessible, (iii) the collective value of data sets is greater than its dispersed value, and (iv) open access to standardised time series data must be pursued as a common, coordinated international goal.