The timely, free and unrestricted international exchange of oceanographic data is essential for the efficient acquisition, integration and use of ocean observations gathered by the countries of the world for a wide variety of purposes including the prediction of weather and climate, the operational forecasting of the marine environment, the preservation of life, the mitigation of human-induced changes in the marine and coastal environment, as well as for the advancement of scientific understanding that makes this possible.

This in person meeting will constitute an important milestone for the executive work of GLOSS. Among other agenda items there is the GLOSS Governance, planning of GLOSS XVI for autumn 2022, the harmonization of metadata, development of GLOSS Data Portal, and Single ID