UNESCO/IOC-IODE is looking for a data manager to support the OBIS secretariat in Ostend (Belgium). This is a project appointment initially for one year. Please find more information here

Candidates need to submit their CV and motivation letter before 21 October 2012. More HERE

This meeting will be organized at the "North Sea Room", Wandelaarkaai 7/61, Oostende, Belgium (same entrance as IODE Project Office) on Monday 26 November 2012.A key objective of this workshop, organised to coincide with Littoral 2012, is to present and collect feedback from the ICAN and wider coastal community on the latest version of the NETMAR/ICAN prototype interoperability platform (funded under FP7), which facilitates the connection of multiple atlases and the search and viewing of metadata and data. You will find out about the prototype functionality and will have the opportunity to provide input to assist development of the final version. You will also learn how to connect your own atlas to the platform and what resources are available to assist you in this task. Moreover, the utility of Web Processing Services and service chaining, used in other NETMAR application areas, will be demonstrated. This meeting also provides the opportunity to launch officially the IODE ICAN Pilot Project in the lead-up to its establishment as a full IODE Project which will be proposed to the 22nd session of the IOC Committee on International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE-XXII) in March 2013. We will also explore stories on the use of coastal and marine atlases, based on the experiences of the African and Caribbean Marine Atlases. The workshop provides an opportunity to review and develop the ICAN draft work plan to be presented at IODE-XXII, as well as preliminary discussions on the themes to be the focus of the next workshop of the full ICAN community in June 2013 (to be held in Victoria, Canada). Attendance at the event is free and participants from outside the current ICAN community are most welcome, especially those currently using, or contemplating creation of, coastal or marine atlases. Please contact Ned Dwyer ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) before October 26th 2012 to reserve your place at the workshop.

On 20-21 June 2012, 18 members of the OBIS development consortium met (partly via webex) to plan the future OBIS data system architecture. The outcomes of this technical group will be further discussed at the next IODE steering group for OBIS meeting in November 2012 and a final recommendation will be brought forward to the IODE-XXII general assembly in March 2013. The meeting report provides a summary of the discussions, ideas, and issues that will be dealt with in the coming months.

The report can be downloaded HERE.

The 2012 revised version of the Ocean Data Standards and Best Practices Review Process is now available. This document explains all steps to be taken between the submission of a candidate standard (or best practise) and its approval and publication by IODE and JCOMM.

The document (INF-1297) can be downloaded from here.

Mr Ariel Troisi, nominated by IODE in his capacity of IODE Co-Chair, has been invited to join the ICSU WDS Scientific Committee (WDS-SC).  Ariel Troisi was also nominated by SCOR. The Chairperson of the Committee is Prof. Jean-Bernard Minster of Scripps Institute of Oceanography, USA. Other members include Michael Diepenbroek (Germany), Kim Finney (Australia), Francoise Genova (France), Wim Hugo (South Africa), Jane Junter (Australia), Vasily Kopylov (Russian Federation), Guoqing Li (China), Ruth Neilan (USA), Lesley Rickards (UK), Ryosuke Shibasaki (Japan).