Speaker: Zdenka Willis, Director of NOAA Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) program.

As "our eyes on the oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes", the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) is a tool for tracking, predicting, managing, and adapting to changes in our marine environment. IOOS delivers the data and information needed to increase our understanding of our waters, so decision makers can take action to improve safety, enhance the economy, and protect the environment. NOAA is proud to lead a national partnership of 17 federal agencies and 11 regions working together to link marine data in an easy-to-use standard format that will provide users with a composite picture of our nation's waters in an accurate and timely manner. This seminar will discuss some of the complexities of the national IOOS efforts, what NOAA and its partners are doing to integrate our ocean and coastal data, and IOOS benefits to data users, the general public, and the nation.