Gonzâlez-Pola et al. 
ICES-WGOH Assessment on Ocean Climate 
Frontiers In Marine Science | www.frontlersln.org 
4 
March 2019 | Volume 6 | Article 103 
C 
Frequency 
D Region 
annual 
+ 12 per year Ocean basins 
FIGURE 2 | Basic properties of tlmeserles Included In the IROC. The report currently Includes 95 tlmeserles from 76 locations, provided by 32 organizations across 
15 countries. (A) Histogram of the starting dates of the tlmeserles grouped by decade (cummulatlve), (B) tlmeserles type: where “others” accounts for modeled flow, 
heat content anomaly, fresh water anomaly and spatial extent of specific water masses (I.e., the Cold Intermediate Level), (C) tlmeserles sampling frequency, (D) 
oceanic region, where ‘Transition’ Includes stations over continental slopes and within straits. 
are gathered systematically using standardized procedures and 
are freely distributed as soon as possible. The GOOS program has 
managed to gather the efforts of several institutions/consortia in 
this direction. 
Along with increasing data availability, gridded products and 
reanalysis have been used as a means of objectively synthesizing 
information, which can then be described in science-based 
reports that aim to provide easy-to-understand summaries to end 
users. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 
has been publishing global assessment reports every 5-8 years 
since 1990 (IPCC, 1990). Similarly, the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been publishing an 
annual State of the Climate report as a standalone peer-reviewed 
publication since 1996 (Halpert and Bell, 1997). Since 1994, the 
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has published their 
annual Statement on the Global Climate (WMO, 1994). Over 
time, these three international flagship reports have introduced 
specific sections dedicated to the recent evolution of ocean 
climate, focusing on the ocean heat content, salinity, ocean 
circulation and more recently considering biogeochemistry. 
Current issues (IPCC, 2013; Hartfield et ah, 2018; WMO, 
2018) provide a high degree of detail in their ocean chapters. 
Region-specific ocean climate state reports are also being 
produced individually by countries either regularly or without 
predefined sequence. 
In parallel to international efforts and those of individual 
countries, the European Union has developed Copernicus 3 as a 
joint Earth Observation and Monitoring program built upon the 
in-situ observational capabilities of member states and satellite 
developments by the European Space Agency. Copernicus 
provides environmental services to the scientific community, 
policy-makers and general users. The Copernicus Marine Service 
has since 2016 released the Ocean State Report (von Schuckmann 
et ak, 2018), dealing both with the Global Ocean and regional 
European Seas. Independent of Copernicus, the European Union 
3 www.copernicus.eu