IOCCG Structure

Links to International Bodies

IOCCG works closely with all of its sponsoring space agencies and user organisations as well as various intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to promote its objectives, including:

The Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR): IOCCG is an Affiliated Program of SCOR, and reports directly to them. SCOR also helps to secure and manage funding from NASA for IOCCG’s programme.
The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC): The IOCCG was initially established under the IOC, but now resides under the umbrella of SCOR. The IOC OceanBestPractises (OBP) repository hosts all of the IOCCG reports. IOC is one of the leaders of GCOS and GOOS programmes, and IOCCG provides expert advice to these bodies.
The Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS): IOCCG is an Associated Member of CEOS, and contributes to the CEOS Ocean Colour Radiometry-Virtual Constellation (OCR-VC) and other CEOS initiatives.
Group on Earth Observations (GEO): IOCCG was instrumental in establishing the SAFARI project under the umbrella of GEO, which now contributes to the GEO Blue Planet initiative. An IOCCG working group on water quality also contributed toward implementation of a global water quality monitoring service under the auspices of GEO (now GEO AquaWatch).

IOCCG Committee

IOCCG’s main decision making body is the IOCCG Committee consisting of about 30 members drawn from the ocean-colour community (rotating membership) and national space agencies (appointed by agencies). The committee meets annually to coordinate the activities of the group as a whole, and decide upon policy, new scientific working groups, training initiatives and other IOCCG activities.

Executive Committee

The IOCCG Executive Committee consists of the Chair and past-Chair (each serving 3-year terms) plus representatives from the sponsoring agencies. The Executive Committee usually meets twice per year to discuss financial matters, membership, and all matters concerning IOCCG’s s work between Committee Meetings.

International Project Office

The International Project Office is based at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Canada, previously staffed by Dr. Venetia Stuart (1997-2022) and now by Dr. Raisha Lovindeer. It is the main contact point and provides support for all IOCCG activities, and facilitates communication both within and outside the project.

Scientific Working Groups

The implementation of IOCCG is facilitated by its scientific working groups established to investigate narrowly focused topics related to ocean-colour technology and its applications. The work is intended to be completed within 2-3 years, resulting in the publication of a report in the IOCCG Report Series.

IOCCG Task Forces

IOCCG has established several semi-permanent “Task Forces” to address issues that require an ongoing capability and/or expertise, and to facilitate inter-agency collaboration.