TPOS 2020: Implementation and Governance

The TPOS 2020 Project will deliver its final design recommendations for the tropical Pacific observing system (OS) in late 2020, however there are many outstanding questions related to implementation and governance of this internationally important system, as well as how to deliver information and services to end users beyond the ocean observing community. The Project organization and functioning will have to shift to be more implementation focused, including more active, regular involvement from ocean researchers and others who are implementing changes to the existing system, modeling communities, and the users of the observational information. Additional stakeholder and user communities should now be included in supporting the system. These communities include Pacific Island communities who may not be able to resource large changes in the OS, but could benefit greatly from the increased observational power that the new design aims to deliver. Identifying the role that TPOS 2020 should play within that landscape is important to fully realize the societal benefit of this effort. The presentation will also touch upon overarching governance and integration questions that are common to the global ocean observing community.