Since its creation within UNESCO a half-century ago, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) has been at the vanguard of ocean observation, serving to promote international cooperation, coordinate ocean research, and facilitate capacity development. Beginning with the International Indian Ocean Expedition in the early 1960s, and through meaningful partnerships with the Scientific Committee of Ocean Research (SCOR), the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP), the Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean (POGO), and related organizations, IOC has provided invaluable leadership needed to help justify and promote large-scale ocean observation programs. A recent international meeting, co-sponsored by IOC, OceanObs’09: Ocean Information for Society – Sustaining the Benefits, Realizing the Potentials was held in Venice, Italy, in September 2009. The conference was attended by more than 600 participants from 36 nations to present and discuss ongoing and planned global ocean observation activities. These field efforts represented a diverse spectrum of time-series programs, including the use of satellite remote sensing, moored buoys, autonomous gliders, repeat hydrographic surveys, volunteer ships of opportunity, profiling floats, cabled seafloor observatories, and ship-supported time-series programs, to name a few examples. Each observation program is designed to address a specific set of scientific goals, and each has its own set of challenges to sustain and optimize data return. This article focuses on ecosystem-based, time-series programs that presently rely on ships to make observations, collect samples, and conduct experiments. These ecosystem investigations are an important subset of the much larger portfolio of research-based, ocean time-series programs that derive, in large part, from sustained IOC leadership (Valdés et al., 2010).