WGOOFE runs an online portal and is developing a number of new initiatives to improve the integration of operational oceanography in ICES science and advice.
The group's main output has been the portal, which has a working matrix of critically evaluated operational oceanographic products from both the eastern and western North Atlantic. The evaluations were on the basis of user friendliness and logistic functionality. The contents and structure of the portal are based on the group's previous survey, which identified the needs within the ICES community. This work highlighted a mismatch between the end-user expectations and the provision of operational oceanographic products.
Currently, the group is continuing its work on the development of a training course on the application of oceanographic data, the further integration of such data in ICES advice, and the development of further index-based products that may be of interest in the integrated ecosystem assessments framework. WGOOFE continues to provide a forum where the users and providers of operational oceanographic data products can interact and work together towards an improved application of oceanographic data within ICES research and advice.
