NOAA’s Ocean Climate Observation Program

Over the past 20+ years there has been remarkable progress in developing a global ocean observing system. Global in-situ observations of essential climate variables in the ice-free ocean from the surface down to 2000m depth are now routinely available to address the long-term observational requirements of forecast and modeling centers, international research programs, major scientific assessments, and decision-makers. NOAA contributes nearly half of the world’s in-situ ocean observations. This presentation will review NOAA’s Ocean Climate Observation contributions supporting more than a dozen arrays that make up the global ocean observing system (e.g., Argo, deep-ocean hydrography, surface drifters, tropical moored buoys, OceanSITES, GLOSS); data systems; and a suite of ocean products. The poster will describe the program’s scope of activities and offer a chance for the community to review and discuss NOAA’s international collaborations, technology evolution for observing, and implementation of OceanObs’09 plans.