Perspectives on Future Indian Ocean Research from Early Career Scientists

Abstract

The first International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE; conducted in the early 1960s) was one of the greatest international, interdisciplinary oceanographic research efforts. It involved 46 research vessels (under 14 different flags) that carried out an unprecedented number of hydrographic surveys (and repeat surveys) of the entire Indian Ocean (IO) basin from 1960 to 1965. One key to the successful qualitative and quantitative assessment of plankton organisms across the IO was the unification of zooplankton collections using the IO Standard Net. The IOS net has been used for more than 50 years until now. The Second International IO Expedition (IIOE2; proposed from 2015 to 2020) is motivated by the need to advance understanding of geologic, oceanic and atmospheric processes, and their interactions in the IO to determine how these dynamics affect climate, marine biogeochemical cycles, ecosystems and fisheries at regional and global scale.