US IOOS® - from integrated to Interdependent and Indispensible

Integration is defined providing rapid access to multidisciplinary data from many sources and to provide data and information required to achieve multiple goals that historically have been the domain of separate agencies, offices, or programs. There are plenty of examples and efforts underway within US Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS®) that are moving us to a fully integrated system. The President's Executive Order 13547, outlines our policy to achieve “an America whose stewardship ensures that the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes are healthy and resilient, safe and productive, and understood and treasured so as to promote the wellbeing, prosperity, and security of present and future generations.” For US IOOS to be a vital contributor to this goal we suggest a need to move beyond Integration to become “Interdependent” and “Indispensible.” Given the current fiscal climate, no one agency, entity or program can act alone. The scientific information needed to guide personal and programmatic decisions necessitates taking the next step to interdependence. Are we ready to take that step? Interdependences also refer to the fact that the subsystems can not stand alone. To deliver necessary capabilities IOOS elements must progress from the research and development stages, through efficient test and operational efforts into routine operations. Technologies must be incubated and rapidly inserted to keep the US IOOS system operating effectively and efficiently. Prompt delivery of meaningful output to the end user demands a fully interdependent system. One in which the models and observations are standardized and work seamlessly together to rapidly tailor the output to users' needs. But interdependence also suggests that each partner be it at the Federal, State, Local and Tribal level or the Private sector needs to be there for the long term. The analogy is really the three legged stool. Once you become interdependent, if one of the partners pulls back the stool falls when ability for the other partners/legs are unable to support the enterprise. This demands not only policy and technology, but trust. Once partners and programs are fully interdependent they become indispensible. This paper will provide examples within IOOS that suggests the move is underway. The paper will provide an update on the US IOOS Blueprint to Full Capability, will provide examples of observation networks that rely on multiple partnerships to remain viable, and how the information, products and services are now have been fully endorsed by managers and decision makers.