The Australian Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS)

The Integrated Marine Observing System aims to observe the oceans around Australia to meet the national and international research needs. Australia has one of the largest marine jurisdictions of any nation on earth. At over 14 million km2 Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is nearly twice the surface area of the Australian continent. It extends from the tropics to high latitudes in Antarctic waters and much of it is unexplored. The surrounding Pacific and Indian Oceans strongly affect the continental climate-system at all time scales, from seasons to decades. The major ocean currents on its eastern, western, northern and southern boundaries, best known of these being the East Australian Current (EAC) and the Leeuwin Current affect regional climatic conditions and help sustain the marine ecosystems. There is evidence that these currents are changing on decadal time scales and have already impacted marine ecosystems, but the data is sparse and neither the currents nor ecosystems have been monitored in a systematic way.