One of the major challenges in establishing and maintaining a global network for observa- The detection, attribution and prediction of tions of global change is ensuring adequate global and large scale regional change have spatial and temporal extent of the observations. become goals for numerous national and multi- In this article, we describe initial steps toward national organizations. The United Nations con- the development of a global coastal observing tributes to these goals through its Global Obse- system by reviewing (1) the general concerns of ing Systems. The observing systems are...

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