Decorative photo of a TRICUSO compass with 'Milestone 24' written in its centre.
A logo of SOCONET: an abstract graphic shape with a photo cut out into it, showing a ship, and "Surface Ocean CO2 Reference Observing Network" written in a thin sans serif font next to the graphic element.

TRICUSO recently reached a significant project milestone when the inaugural Steering Committee Meeting for the Surface Ocean CO2 Observing Network (SOCONET) took place in Bergen, Norway on 16-17 of January to establish the network’s governance structure.

Project colleagues were joined by members of SOCONET’s international community to discuss the development of the network’s implementation plan, which will be delivered later this year (2026), and will guide the community towards combining the critical elements of the existing and upcoming technical capacity, allowing SOCONET to contribute important data towards societal and scientific needs.

Advancing the development of SOCONET is in support of TRICUSO’s work package six objective to build an international governance structure for surface ocean pCO2 observations. Many of TRICUSO’s scientists have been involved with SOCONET since its inception.

SOCONET Context and Origin

Ocean carbon research is critical for quantifying the global uptake of atmospheric CO2 and understanding air-sea interactions. However, ocean CO2 uptake varies drastically across time and space. Accurate monitoring requires high-quality, continuous measurements to predict impacts like ocean acidification. Historically, this data came from a loose affiliation of observing platforms (merchant and research vessels, moorings as well as sailing boats and uncrewed surface vehicles). The lack of formal coordination limited the integration of ocean data into global policy, such as UNFCCC assessments, WMO’s Global Greenhouse Gas Watch or WMO’s State of the Climate Report, amongst other critical management and policy making bodies.

A group picture of approximately fifteen people present at the first SOCONET Steering Committee Meeting in Bergen, Norway on 16 and 17 January 2026. They are smiling at the camera with a sunny Bergen in the background.

In early November 2023, over one hundred ocean carbon scientists met at the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) in Oostende, Belgium. Their goal was to review the status of surface ocean carbon research and observations and decide on improvements to the structure, process and information delivery. A key ambition was to deliver an integrated global surface ocean carbon monitoring system to help countries better understand and manage climate change drivers efficiently. In 2024, community leaders coordinated by IOCCP (International Project Office hosted at IO PAN) developed a plan to operationalize these observations. By June2024, SOCONET was approved as a Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) Emerging Network based on this plan.

TRICUSO Delivery

During the first year of the TRICUSO project, SOCONET significantly accelerated the development of its international governance, coordination and communication capacity. The team at IO PAN, led by Maciej Telszewski within Task 6.2, worked with consortium partners: GEOMAR, UEA, WMO, NORCE, and ICOS-OTC, and international partners: GOOS of IOC-UNESCO, NOAA-GOMO, SCOR, and IOCCP, to achieve the following:

  • Develop SOCONET’s Mission and Goals
  • Develop long-term Terms of Reference (ToR) for its Steering Committee (SC)
  • Call for, select and approve SOCONET Steering Committee for the next 4 years, including nomination and approval of two Scientific Committee co-chairs,
  • Develop and publish a guide on first steps to implement the reference-quality measurements of the surface ocean CO2
  • Develop SOCONET’s web page, which is being funded by IOCCP via SCOR.

Please visit the SOCONET web page for details on all of the above. 

These achievements have established a strong scientific oversight and governance structure for SOCONET. Moving forward, TRICUSO and international partners, led by IO PAN and WMO, will collaboratively work to:

  • Establish measurement requirements: Define standards for surface ocean CO2 and marine boundary layer measurements, including reference-levels. This involves disseminating standard operating procedures (SOPs) and best practices to classify data quality.
  • Monitor network performance: Facilitate near-real-time monitoring and reporting, using specific targets and indicators to track status versus implementation needs.
  • Expand global representation: Coordinate the recruitment of broader participation in SOCONET, determining minimum requirements for participants and organizing training and capacity building.
  • Streamline data submission: Facilitate the timely submission of data to the Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT) and metadata to the Joint WMO-IOC in-situ Observations Programmes Support (OceanOPS).
  • Ensure instrument accuracy: Coordinate routine intercomparison exercises for surface ocean CO2 instruments, including emerging technologies.

Organised by TRICUSO partners, IO PAN, NORCE and GEOMAR, the First SOCONET Steering Committee Meeting was successful in its objective of implementing governance structures and planning for the global integration of individual platform operators into a structured reference network. 

Highlights of this activity included creating Five Task Teams, each aimed at delivering expert thematic content to the SOCONET Implementation Plan. Task Teams on Tiers, Data and Metadata, Network Design, Atmospheric Measurements and Training will include experts from outside of the Steering Committee to assure wide community input and realistic implementation targets across existing capacities. Each task team will develop a clear pathway for the community to implement around the specific topic, with actions spanning from months to years to a network vision a decade away.

Approximately fifteen people sitting round a table with their laptops, ready for the first SOCONET Steering Committee. In the background are a screen with slides on the left and a screen with zoom call participants on the right.

Steering Committee members who attended the meeting in Bergen were:

  • Mathieu Belbeoch – Guest, leader OceanOPS (online)
  • Louise Delaigue – SC Member
  • Dorothee Bakker – SC Member
  • Thanos Gkritzalis – SC Member
  • Siyabuela Hamnca – SC Member (online)
  • Steve Jones – SC Member
  • Siv Kari Lauvset – SC Member
  • Vlad Macovei – SC Member
  • Patrick Martin – SC Member
  • Elaine McDonagh – Guest, GO-SHIP co-Chair
  • David Munro – SC Member
  • Craig Neill – SC Member
  • Kevin O’Brien – Technical Coordinator
  • Richard Sanders – SC Member
  • Tobias Steinhoff – SC co-Chair
  • Adrienne Sutton – SC Member
  • Kathy Tedesco – Ex-officio Expert Advisor (online)
  • Maciej Telszewski – Network Coordinator
  • Sandy Thomalla – Guest, representing South Africa
  • Bronte Tilbrook – SC co-Chair
  • Sebastiaan Van de Velde – SC member
  • Richard Wanninkhof – Guest, Atmospheric Obs. Task Team Lead

Following on this achievement, SOCONET will hold a Townhall at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland on the 23rd of February at 12:45 to presents its current status and future prospects. More details can be found here.

This milestone supports Key Exploitable Result – 10: Implementation plan for SOCONET presented to G3W, GOOS and IOC as evidence for the clear investment needed to enable surface carbon observations to support multiple policy areas in the CDR and Climate arenas.

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