About

What is the Ocean Acidification Information Exchange?

The Ocean Acidification Information Exchange is an online community for professionals involved with or interested in the topics of ocean and coastal acidification (OCA). Our community’s mission is to respond and adapt to OCA by fostering an online environment built on trust, where our members, regardless of background, feel empowered to ask, answer, and learn from one another. By promoting the collegial exchange of information across disciplines and geographical boundaries, our goal is to facilitate the creation of more holistic, more effective response strategies and share lessons learned.

Instead of facilitating one-way transfers of information to the website reader, the OA Information Exchange (OAIE) focuses on interaction and sharing. The heart of the OAIE is interactive teams that use the site’s collaboration tools to focus on specific topics related to ocean and coastal acidification. Members can share resources and engage in online discussions, and, in doing so, will enhance stakeholder interactions and build well-informed communities working to respond and adapt to ocean and coastal acidification. The OAIE invites anyone working on ocean acidification to join, including but not limited to government, tribal, and academic research scientists, citizen scientists, experiential and formal educators, NGO employees, marine resources managers, policy makers, concerned citizens, aquaculturists, people in the fishing industry, technology developers, and data managers.

Why develop the Ocean Acidification Information Exchange?

The Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring (FOARAM) Act of 2009 mandates the establishment of an “information exchange” to “make information on ocean acidification developed through or utilized by the interagency ocean acidification program accessible through electronic means, including information which would be useful to policymakers, researchers, and other stakeholders in mitigating or adapting to the impacts of ocean acidification.” Such an information exchange will provide an excellent service to the ocean and coastal acidification community, which is eager for a better way to share resources, access up-to-date information, and interact across disciplines and regions.

Who is involved in the Information Exchange?

The Interagency Working Group on Ocean Acidification is charged by the FOARAM Act of 2009 with developing an ocean acidification “information exchange”. After much deliberation and with encouragement from the White House, it decided to pursue this collaboration website. NERACOOS was chosen to operate the OAIE.

The Interagency Working Group on Ocean Acidification, which was formed by the FOARAM Act of 2009, includes representatives from NOAA, NSF, NASA, BIA, BOEM, EPA, NPS, Navy, Smithsonian, State, USDA, USFWS, USGS, and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy. The group meets regularly to coordinate ocean acidification activities across the Federal government to fulfill the goals of the FOARAM Act.

The Ocean Acidification Information Exchange gratefully acknowledges support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Ocean Acidification Program and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.