The Second IMDOS Steering Committee Meeting Held in Sopot, Poland

We are excited to share that the IMDOS Steering Committee met at the Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences (Sopot, Poland) on 19-20 March 2026. The two-day gathering was full of intense discussions in plenary and in breakout groups, taking us a few steps closer to addressing our ambitious strategic objectives.

Sixteen SC members traveled from around the world to attend the meeting in person, and several others demonstrated heroic dedication by actively participating online from Australia, Asia and the Americas.

• During the meeting we heard about the status of IMDOS Task Team activities, discussed gaps and needs for further action which informs the development of an action plan for the next 1-2 years.
• As usual, gaps in harmonization of observing methods and marine debris data dominated the discussions. However, we come out of the meeting with a clearer view on how IMDOS can make a difference by better coordinating the numerous activities in this space. To this end, we took decisions on how to best expand on the IMDOS community engagement, while capitalizing on growing coordination office capacity.
• One of the immediate outcomes of the meeting will be the public dissemination of a draft Marine Plastics Debris Essential Ocean Variable Specification Sheet. The EOV development process is being closely monitored by the GOOS Biogeochemistry Panel International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP).

We will provide a more detailed summary of the meeting results soon, so please stay tuned!

We would like to thank EU-funded projects BioGeoSea and EU4OceanObs for financial support, and the Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences for hosting the meeting.