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Paper short abstract

The paper analyses the "infrastructuring" of ocean observation systems and the role of geospatial data infrastructures in transforming the ocean from an 'unruly' space into a governable one.

Paper long abstract

Ocean observation systems are increasingly framed as critical infrastructures for governing vast, labile and hard-to-access oceanic spaces in the context of climate change, biodiversity loss, and the expansion of ocean-based economies. Large-scale monitoring initiatives and data platforms promise to generate the information required for evidence-based ocean governance. Yet these systems are costly, fragile, and dependent on unstable institutional and financial arrangements. In response, parts of the scientific community attempt to reposition ocean observation systems as societal knowledge infrastructures whose value extends beyond scientific research.

This paper examines this “infrastructuring” process and the role of geospatial data infrastructures in transforming the ocean from an ‘unruly’ space into a governable space, drawing on Science and Technology Studies and recent work on the politics of infrastructuring (Blok et al, 2016; Drakopulos et al, 2022).

The analysis draws on a collective ethnography of international ocean governance arenas linked to the UN Ocean Conferencein Nice (2025), complemented by interviews with actors involved in major observation initiatives ( GOOS, Copernicus Marine Service, and Argo). The paper unpacks scientists, institutions, and funders’ attempts to stabilise observation infrastructures by emphasising their societal relevance and embedding them within governance agendas. The expansion of observation infrastructures – often through commercial partnerships, philanthropy and ships of opportunity – generates conflicts over observation priorities, data commercialisation, and authority over knowledge infrastructures. This produces a geospatially ordered yet uneven ocean, with some areas becoming infrastructurally (in)visible and some actors building epistemic privilege.