The health of the Oceans and the need for its monitoring

Abstract

Information contained in the recent Review of the Health of the Oceans carried out by the UN Joint Group of Experts on Scientific Aspects of Marine Pollution (GESAMP) is used in formulating monitoring requirements together with different aims of monitoring defined within the framework of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES).

The development is largely based on the concept of an interfaceflux model, which defines zones of interaction between oceanic processes and human activities. This is supplemented by consideration of biogeochemical cycles which describe the cycling of substances and may help elucidate specially important processes and fluxes. A definition of specific monitoring needs is obtained. Consideration is given separately to a series of waste or contaminant categories: sewage, organochlorines, petroleum, metals and radionuclides. Implications in relation to the design of an integrated monitoring scheme include: the need to take into account interactions between land, sea, and atmosphere; the desirability to combine monitoring type observations with scientific studies, e.g. for the determination of fluxes; the necessity to take into account the frequencey of occurrence and rate of natural processes.