Yesterday I spoke by phone with Antarctic scientist Andrew Constable who works with other scientists to develop the Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the Southern Ocean program (MEASO).
This information comes from the Australian Antarctic Division website notice, ‘
‘Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the Southern Ocean: framework and outcomes of the MEASO 2018 conference, Thursday 24 May 2018
Dr Andrew Constable (AAD & ACE-CRC) is a quantitative marine ecologist and co-leads the Ocean Carbon and Ecosystem program at ACE. Together with Drs Jess Melbourne-Thomas, Rowan Trebilco and Mike Sumner (AAD, ACE-CRC & IMAS) (and many others) he has been working on big picture assessments of ecosystems in the Southern Ocean. In this presentation, Andrew will provide an overview of the first MEASO conference that took place in Hobart in April 2018.
Abstract: A first Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the Southern Ocean (MEASO) is under development to facilitate contributions from the Antarctic and Southern Ocean marine science community to the 6th Assessment Review (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC), and other recent initiatives to assess status and trends in global ecosystems. MEASO is not intended to supplant the specific scientific requirements for year to year management but to complement that work with long-term assessments. It is intended to provide a forward-looking assessment of what trends in Southern Ocean ecosystems are happening now and into the future, and what may need to be planned for, in terms of research and management. The aim is to have a quantitative assessment that enables managers to achieve consensus in adapting their management strategies to ecosystem change to continue to achieve their objectives for ecosystems. MEASO 2018 was an international conference held in Hobart in early April 2018. It was supported by IMBeR ICED and CLIOTOP, SOOS, SCAR, and the Australian Antarctic Program to share relevant science, enhance community input into the design and planning of the MEASO, and to develop a work plan. This presentation will summarise the outcomes of the conference, the draft framework for MEASO-1, and the manner in which the international community can become engages in the process. The first MEASO is expected to be published in the first quarter of 2019, for use in the IPCC AR6. Then work will commence toward subsequent MEASO iterations on a cycle that aligns with IPCC reporting (an updated MEASO, say, every 6 years).