In addition to scientific contributions and the openness to collaborations, a prerequisite for a sustainable operation of a coastal observatory is the integration into national and international programs and networks.
Oceanographic data from the Time-Series Station Spiekeroog are fed e.g. into the German Oceanographic Data Center (DOD) at the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) as well as into the COSYNA data portal. These data can then be used, e.g. to forecast storm surges. The Time-Series Station and thus the SCO is also an important part of EMODnet (European Marine Observation and Data Network). Here, data serve as a basis for, e.g. climate models. The ICBM are long-standing associate members of the international organizations NOOS (North West European Shelf Operational Oceanographic System), EuroGOOS (European Global Ocean Observing System) and thus GOOS (Global Ocean Observing), which brings together scientific institutions and government agencies to develop and implement monitoring and forecasting systems for the marine environment. Since 2018, the Spiekeroog Coastal Observatory has also been part of LTER-D.