The contribution of international scientific cooperation and related institutions to effective governance for the oceans: the cases of regional tsunami early warning systems and the Argo Project - Ocean Sustainability in the 21st Century - page 275

duct, and regulations based on a common understanding would provide clarity and pre-
dictability for the scientific community, facilitate the introduction of standards procedures
in accordance with international practice, and ensure better flow of information through
authorized organizations and channels to facilitate dissemination of data and information
and create acceptability of results. Therefore the design of common policies for conducting
MSR is crucial for ocean governance.
The case studies presented in this chapter concern international initiatives in MSR and
operational oceanography (Schiller and Brassington, 2011 ) that illustrate howthe evolution
of practices and the expansion of need for information to manage the oceans sustainably,
also require developments in international arrangements for the conduct of operations and
the exchange of data. Here, the issue of exchange of data is particularly relevant, as oper-
ational activities, especially when aimed at forecasts and early warnings, normally require
exchange of data in real or near-real time, while this is not necessarily the case with MSR.