National interests in marine affairs are co-ordinated through the Inter-Agency Committee on Marine Science and Technology (IACMST) which maintains an overview of marine activities across Government. Some 14 Government departments or agencies (including the Met Office) are members of IACMST. It encourages links between Government and the national marine community, as well as international links.

IACMST has two action groups to which the Met Office contributes, its GOOS AG (Global Ocean Observing System Action Group) is the UK national GOOS co-ordinating committee and its MED AG (Marine Environmental Data) Action Group is concerned with improving access to marine environmental data.

The GOOS AG includes representatives from Government departments and is charged by IACMST with coordination of marine observation programmes operated by the UK and with improving the co-ordination and development and application of operational models of the shelf seas around the UK. The GOOS AG also works to improve co-ordination of UK input to the GOOS programme.

The Met Office works to improve the accessibility and availability of UK data by contributing funding towards the activities of the IACMST MEDAG which includes representatives from Government departments and user groups. The group, together with the Marine Environmental Data Co-ordinator, forms the UK Marine Environmental Data Network which has set up the OceanNET web site as a portal to data and information about the marine environment.

As part of its commitment to consult on and promote marine science and technology, the UK Government’s Interagency Committee on Marine Science and Technology (IACMST) publishes a series of information documents that review topical issues. Recent publications include:

• Review of Current UK Marine Observations in relation to present and future needs. IACMST Information Document No. 7 (also available via OceanNET, pdf format 6 Mb)
• Climate of UK Waters at the Millennium, Status and Trends. IACMST Information Document No. 9 (also available via OceanNET)