Photo by Lu

The UK has joined OceanEye, an EU-led ocean monitoring programme designed to improve forecasts of extreme weather and climate events. Environment Secretary Angela Eagle confirmed the UK’s participation at a UN event in New York on 23 September. Under the programme, Britain will share more information from the Met Office and other agencies with the EU and Canada. The announcement comes amid wider government efforts to strengthen relations with the EU.

OceanEye aims to improve global ocean observations and to create a digital “real time” model of the world’s oceans by 2030, using satellites, sensors and other data. Ocean monitoring helps scientists forecast floods, droughts, storms and extreme heat. It also supports global trade, national security and marine protection.

“As an island nation and a global leader in climate science, we know that data from ocean monitoring is essential to our ability to protect and restore our oceans, and anticipate and respond to the huge threats they face, because we cannot save our oceans if we do not understand them,” Eagle was expected to say.

A global alliance

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen first announced OceanEye at the European Ocean Days in March 2026. At the same time she called for an international alliance to secure funding and coordinate action on ocean observation. The EU committed €50 million from Horizon Europe to the alliance for 2026–2027. OceanEye is an essential element of the European Ocean Pact. EMODnet, the EU’s marine data network, will act as its marine data service hub.

The alliance was formally launched at the New York event by von der Leyen and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. It was organised with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The UK is one of 31 members of the new OceanEye International Alliance for the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). Together, members have pledged more than CAD $339 million (€211 million) in financial contributions, in-kind support and assets such as research vessels, sensors, drones and data-processing facilities. The EU pledged a further €92 million for ocean observation activities, and Canada pledged CAD $82 million over five years.

“As the underwater world rapidly changes, ocean observation gives us eyes and ears beneath the waves. With OceanEye, we can gather the data we need to understand and protect our ocean,” von der Leyen said.

Carney emphasised the collective nature of the effort. “The ocean we share cannot be understood, or protected, by any nation alone. What none of us can do individually, we can achieve together. Every observation shared multiplies impact,” he said.

A system at risk

GOOS coordinates around 120,000 ocean observations a day, from 8,000 platforms operated by 64 countries. However, this infrastructure is at risk, partly because of a lack of long-term sustainable investment. There are currently no near-equatorial moored buoys operating west of 165 degrees East in the tropical Pacific. That leaves no fixed observing presence across a region that helps shape El Niño and La Niña, and with them rainfall and drought patterns worldwide. The Southern Ocean, the poles and the deep ocean also need much stronger observation.

“The scientific reality is clear: Ocean observations shape our understanding of the climate system. They give us time to prepare,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.

Vidar Helgesen, Executive Secretary of the IOC, framed the challenge as one of governance as much as science. “We need an optimized system that countries can sustain over time, and this will only be possible with stronger investments and closer cooperation with governments,” he said.

The launch marks the start of a wider international mobilisation for 2026–2028. Further pledging opportunities are planned at COP31 and at the 12th Our Ocean Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia.