NEAR-GOOS Committee and Terms of Reference

Commitee

Committee shall consist of representatives of all member countries. Each country shall designate two members, preferably with one person coming from the operational meteorological/oceanographic community. The Committee shall elect a Chairperson among the members. The Chairperson of the Coordinating Committee will act as NEAR-GOOS Coordinator. The Committee shall meet to the extent possible in regular annual sessions at the expense of the participating countries. Other countries and appropriately affiliated organizations can attend the sessions as observers. In case a Member is unable to attend, his or her government will try to send a suitable replacement, so that there is continuity of representation.

The Committee currently consists of:

Terms of Reference

The general Terms of Reference for the Committee is to:
i. Coordinate the development of applications in operational oceanography that demonstrate the usefulness of regional collaboration;
ii. Encourage the increase the volume of quality-controlled data available to the NEAR-GOOS Community through the respective national and regional databases, where possible with the smallest time delay possible;
iii. Inventory and analyse existing activities relevant to NEAR-GOOS including operational systems and programmes, organizations, scientific programmes, services and products, commercial interests, and training and capacity building;
iv. Coordinate to produce integrated comprehensive data sets and data products that conform to the principle of end-to-end data management;
v. Prepare a NEAR-GOOS Strategic Plan that highlights the direction of NEAR-GOOS over the next five years that incorporates the economic, social and environmental protection needs of the region with a clear approach to enhancing the coordinating mechanism of NEAR-GOOS;
vi. Publicise and disseminate NEAR-GOOS plans and information to regional governments and the general public;
vii. Recommend scientific and technical activities to support NEAR-GOOS implementation by coordinating new pilot projects and providing linkages to existing projects and programmes;
viii. Produce guiding documents for the near real time data collection and exchange in the NEARGOOS region;
ix. Advise and consider sources of funding for pilot project development with various funding agencies and in consultation with pilot project leaders;
x. Liaison with national NEAR-GOOS committees, J-COMM, GOOS Project Office and other GOOS-related bodies as appropriate;
xi. Develop linkages with existing relevant organizations, programmes and projects in the region.