Frontiers in Marine Science | www.frontiersin.org 
1 
March 2019 | Volume 6 | Article 103 
V* frontiers 
in Marine Science 
MINI REVIEW 
published: 19 March 2019 
doi: 10.3389/fmars.2019.00103 
The ICES Working Group on Oceanic 
Hydrography: A Bridge From In-situ 
Sampling to the Remote 
Autonomous Observation Era 
OPEN ACCESS 
Edited by: 
Sanae Chiba, 
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth 
Science and Technology Japan 
Reviewed by: 
Christoph Waidmann, 
University of Bremen, Germany 
Oscar Schofield, 
Rutgers University, United States 
Correspondence: 
César Gonzáiez-Poia 
cesar.pola@ieo.es 
Specialty section: 
This article was submitted to 
Ocean Observation, 
a section of the journal 
Frontiers in Marine Science 
Received: 31 October 2018 
Accepted: 20 February 2019 
Published: 19 March 2019 
Citation: 
Gonzáiez-Poia C, Fratantoni P 
Larsen KMH, Holliday NR Dye S, 
Mork KA, Beszczynska-Moller A, 
Valdimarsson H, Trofimov A, Parner H, 
Klein H, Cisewski B, Fontán A, 
Lyons K, Kolodziejczyk N, Grana R, 
Unders J, Wodzinowski T Goszczko I 
and Cusack C (2019) The ICES 
Working Group on Oceanic 
Hydrography: A Bridge From In-situ 
Sampling to the Remote Autonomous 
Observation Era. 
Front. Mar. Sci. 6:103. 
doi: 10.3389/fmars.2019.00103 
César González-Pola Paula Fratantoni 2 , Karin M. H. Larsen 3 , N. Penny Holliday 4 , 
Stephen Dye 5 , Kjell Arne Mork 6 , Agnieszka Beszczynska-Moller 7 , Hedinn Valdimarsson 8 , 
Alexander Trofimov 3 , Hjalte Parner 10 , Holger Klein ", Boris Cisewski 12 , 
Almudena Fontán 13 , Kieran Lyons 14 , Nicolas Kolodziejczyk 15 , Rocío Grafía 1 , 
Johanna Linders 16 , Tycjan Wodzinowski 17 , Ilona Goszczko 7 and Caroline Cusack 14 
’ Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO), Oceanographic Center of Gijón, Gijdn, Spain, 3 NOAA NMFS Northeast Fisheries 
Science Center, Woods Hole, MA, United States, 3 Faroe Marine Research Institute, Torshavn, Faroe Islands, 4 National 
Oceanography Centre, Southampton, United Kingdom, 5 Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, 
Lowestoft, United Kingdom, 6 Institute of Marine Research, Bergen, Norway, 7 Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of 
Sciences, Sopot, Poland, 3 Marine and Freshwater Research Institute, Reykjavik, Iceland, 9 Knipovich Polar Research Institute 
of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography, Murmansk, Russia, International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, 
Copenhagen, Denmark, ’ ’ Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH), Hamburg, Germany, 13 Thünen Institute of Sea 
Fisheries, Bremerhaven, Germany, 13 AZTI Marine Research, Pasaia, Spain, “ Marine Institute, Gaiway, Ireland, ,s LOPS 
laboratory (UBO-CNRS-lfremer-IRD), University of Brest, Piouzané, France, 16 Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological 
Institute, Norrkoping, Sweden, ,7 National Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Gdynia, Poland 
The ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) Working Group on Oceanic 
Hydrography (WGOH) was established In the late 1970’s with the aim of gathering 
experts In physical oceanography to provide regular science-based assessments of 
the North Atlantic hydrographical condition (basically termohallne fields). From the 
beginning, the WGOH has relied on repeated long-term in-situ sampling at key sites 
around the North Atlantic, the Nordic Seas and adjacent shelf seas. An annual 
Report on Ocean Climate (IROC), produced by the WGOH since the late 1990’s, 
summarizes trends In regional hydrography and identifies patterns linking these changes 
across the North Atlantic. Regional analyses are prepared by local experts who are 
directly involved In the monitoring programs responsible for collecting data presented 
in the report. An interactive webpage created In 2013 allows users to browse and 
download data that inform the IROC. Within the last two decades the physical 
oceanography community has evolved quickly incorporating technological advances 
such as autonomous devices Into classical in-situ sampling programs. The WGOH 
has embraced such technological developments without diverting focus from ongoing 
in-situ long-term monitoring programs. Having longstanding experience synthesizing 
data and expertise from a large number of operational programs spanning an extensive 
international footprint, the WGOH has a unique perspective to offer the global ocean 
observing community. Here we discuss how we might foster connections with ICES to 
benefit the GOOS (Global Ocean Observing System) community. 
Keywords: ocean climate, hydrography, timeseries, in-situ sampling, periodical report, science to policy, North 
Atlantic