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Part III. Appendix 4: User Outreach7. Continuity of time-series observations needs to be preserved. The establishment and maintenanceof long time series is of vital interest to a variety of different types of users, but especiallyto physical and biological modelers working on systems with “long memories.”8. The size of the 4-D cube of interest is defined by user groups. There are user-specific requirementsfor data to be packaged into 4-D cubes, where 4-D cubes are observations grouped bytime, and by space in three dimensions. Cooperation among users, data managers, and thosemanaging the observing system is essential if IOOS is to meet the needs of the maximum possiblenumber of users with the available sampling budget.RECOMMENDATIONSUser Outreach needs to fulfill roles within IOOS that transcend the needs of the Data Managementand Communications Subsystem. IOOS will need to establish an infrastructure of standing committeesin order to function. As illustrated by Figure 1, the functions of the standing committeescorrespond to the subsystems associated with the end-to-end user driven system, as originally envisioned(Nowlin and Malone, 1999). In the future, it is recommended that DMAC maintain a strongand active connection to users, through formally structured interactions with users, i.e., via a UserOutreach Committee that seeks out and understands the needs of current and potential users. TheUser Outreach Committee would work with a Users Advisory Body, and Applications, Productsand Models Committee, a Data Management and Communications Committee, and an ObservingOperations Committee. In this way the needs of users could be represented in all of the key subsystemsof the end-to-end user-driven observing system.User Outreach should function at the level of an IOOS Standing Committee (SC) and it shouldprovide liaison to the following standing committees;• Users Advisory Body• Applications/Products• DMAC• Observing OperationsUser needs should be a common currency that is used to some extent in all of the operations ofIOOS.252