South Pacific Sea Level and Climate Monitoring Project (SPSLCMP)

Description of Intervention

The SPSLCMP is an Australian Government initiative, funded by AusAID, which will enable South Pacific Island Countries to better manage their own environments and contribute to achieving sustainable development. The SPSLCMP was developed in 1991 as an Australian Government response to concerns raised by member countries of the South Pacific Forum over the potential impacts of human-induced global warming on climate and sea levels in the Pacific region.

The first three phases of the project established a network of 12 high resolution SEAFRAME (Sea Level Fine Resolution Acoustic Measuring Equipment) sea level and climate monitoring stations throughout the Pacific. These stations are sited at locations in participating countries (Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of Marshall Islands, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu) and provide a wide coverage across the Southwest Pacific basin. All of the stations, with the exception of the one located at Pohnpei (FSM), which was established in December 2001, have been operational since October 1994. Processed and analysed data has since been made available to partner countries and the international scientific community, and information products and training have been provided to targeted groups in the Pacific Island countries.

Problems to be Addressed

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Aims

Its primary goal is to generate an accurate record of variance in long-term sea level for the South Pacific and to establish methods to make these data readily available and usable by Pacific Island countries.

Objectives

The project has been running for over 14 years and entered its fourth phase on 1 January 2006 and ended on 31 December 2010.
In delivering to the project goal, key objectives of Phase IV were to:
• Maintain the investment in existing and new monitoring infrastructure;
• Continue the core process of collecting, analysing, storing and disseminating high quality sea level data from the SPSLCMP stations;
• Increase regional and local-level participation in project activities;
• Enhance institutional capacity through training and technology transfer; and
• Improve information and data exchange between partners and stakeholders.

How it fits into the EbA concept

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Relevant Publications

Monthly data and trend analysis available on CDs with occasional update reports
Project Website