On behalf of the global operational ocean observing community, the The U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) has supported the development of a Benefits of Ocean Observations Catalog (BOOC). BOOC has been designed as a tool to better understand the economic, societal and environmental benefits derived from ocean observations, measurements and forecasts.
Currently undergoing beta testing, a fully operational BOOC will serve as a global commons for demonstrating and understanding the benefits of ocean observations, information and knowledge in support of policy, safety, operations, economic activity, environmental protection and the delivery of climate resilience. The BOOC project is hosted by the Ocean Decade Program Observing Together: Meeting Stakeholder Needs and Making Every Observation Count.
BOOC documents the benefits of ocean observation, measurement, and forecasting through structured use cases, organized for easy searching, browsing, and collating. It incorporates a GIS viewer, which allows users to search for cases geographically, as well as tools for text searching, allowing users to query the catalog in many ways. All use cases published in BOOC undergo peer review before acceptance and are published as short papers, each with a unique Digital Object Identifier (DOI).
BOOC is built using existing software platforms. It combines document and publication management from Digital Commons® with geospatial access and display using ArcGIS Experience Builder®. BOOC has been developed by the Center for the Blue Economy of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey as a part of its mission to provide economic and policy analysis that supports the development of a robust and equitable blue economy for the 21st century.
