The Australian Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) and the regional implementation in New South Wales

The marine community in Australia has recently commenced the establishment of marine research-infrastructure to systematically observe and monitor the ocean around Australia. The Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) was established as part of the Australian Government's National Collaborative Research Infra-structure Strategy (NCRIS) initially for a five year period to June 2011, with an extension through to June 2013 announced in 2009. The IMOS strategic research-goal is to assemble and provide free, open and timely access to streams of data that support research on: the role of the oceans in the climate system, and the impact of major boundary currents on continental shelf environments, ecosystems and biodiversity. Here we describe the implementation of IMOS by the NSW node as an example, and present preliminary data from the NSW-IMOS observing system.