Building multidisciplinary collaboration in coastal and ocean modelling and observation in Australasia

Australia has the third-largest ocean territory on Earth, with 85% of Australians living within 50 km of the coast. As a result, coasts and ocean matter to Australia and are integral to the use of marine resources for sustainable economic development, i.e. Australia's blue economy. The societal, economic and cultural issues associated with the blue economy range from marine sovereignty, safety and security to food and energy security, biodiversity conservation, management and coastal populations. Marine, climate and Antarctic science have the potential to drive the development of Australia's blue economy through the creation of new knowledge, tools, technology, and innovation. This requires observations from the past to the present, as well as numerical modelling capability that can hindcast, nowcast, and forecast the marine environment with skill.