The Coastal Ocean Processes (CoOP) program has had an exceptional and productive lifetime for a modestly funded research effort. Success is due to those who supported the program’s goals and articulated a vision for the future of coastal oceanography. We would like to acknowledge in particular Larry Clark (retired) and Alex Isern at the National Science Foundation (NSF), and Tom Kinder (retired) at the Office of Naval Research (ONR). CoOP’s proponents at NSF encouraged the program to be an early voice for observatory-enabled ocean research. Members of the CoOP Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) now populate all levels of the Ocean Observatories Initiative structure. We thank those (who may choose to remain nameless) whose advocacy quieted the occasional rumblings of dissenters who mistook for protectionism a carefully considered effort to foster interdisciplinary, multiplatform oceanography. The contents of this issue are a window into the value of interdisciplinary research and interagency cooperation. Credit goes especially to Ken Brink of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who saw the possibilities two decades ago and forged ahead to breathe life into the idea of CoOP.

We thank the CoOP principal investigators and SSC members who always came through to help organize workshops and develop initiatives, who managed to fit one more SSC meeting into their impossible schedules, and who found the time to provide research highlights for the newsletters and reports. You know who you are—from your ghost editor, a debt of gratitude. Thanks are due to Ellen Kappel and her staff for their dedication to the quality of this special issue of Oceanography. And finally, we thank our academic and research home, Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, for being a supportive and generous host to the CoOP office for nearly a decade.

Jahnke, R.A., and D.B. Jahnke. 2008. From the Guest Editors. Oceanography 21(4):17, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2008.23.

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