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OCEAN OBSERVATION: WHY PERMANENTLY

MONITOR THE SOUTH ATLANTIC AND
TROPICAL OCEANS?

Janice Romaguera Trotte-Duhá

Carlos Alberto Eiras Garcia

1. Introduction

The word “oceanography”, which means They also serve to better understand how
“description of the oceans”, appears in all forms of marine life are affected by envi-
Portuguese for the first time at the end ronmental and climate change.
of the 19th century. It took many years There is a growing and urgent demand
for academic intelligence to discover that to sustainably explore new “green” and re-
oceanography, together with meteorolo- newable energy sources from the oceans,
gy and remote sensing, provide indispens- as well as the need to monitor all critical
able information on the functioning of the infrastructure related to the Blue Economy.
planet’s climate dynamics, and on which The public availability of systematic and
the regulatory role of the oceans is identi- long-term information on the Atlantic Ocean
fied (TROTTE, J., 2008). serves as a basic element, or even the main
Observation and modeling systems of guideline, for the transition from the Econo-
the oceans, in spatial scales that vary from my of the Sea to the Blue Economy, as well as
coastal to regional and global, whenever for the promotion of its aspects aimed at in-
available systematically and continuously novation and to economic growth, concepts
to the economic segment of local societ- still little explored for the South Atlantic.
ies, provide the information that allows the Some questions are still present and con-
effective management of maritime activi- tinue to move the scientific community en-
ties, making them safe and sustainable. gaged in ocean monitoring activities, such as:

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