GOOS Observing System Elements

(rev.4, 24 Sept.. 2003)

The operational ENSO Observing System in the tropical Pacific, including:

1. TAO

NOAA

ATLAS buoys (toroïdal) equipped with met. surface sensors & a thermistor chain. Some are equipped with mechanical current meters and an ADCP.

surface winds, air temperature, relative humidity, sea surface temperature and ten subsurface temperatures to a maximum depth of 500 m; upper ocean currents (approx. 10 m to 250 m) are measured at five sites

2. TRITON

JAMSTEC

TRITON buoys (toroïdal) equipped with met. surface sensors, CTD & current meter

wind, air temperature, humidity, precipitation, short wave radiation, water temperature and salinity (down to 750m depth) and current (at 10 meters)

Voluntary Observing Ships (VOS)

WMO

barometer (or barograph), sea thermometer, psychrometer, anemometer + visual obs.

air pressure (incl. tendency), temperature & humidity, wind, SST, sea & swell, clouds, visibility, past & present weather, icing, etc

Ship-of-Opportunity Programme (SOOP)

IOC, WMO

XBT or XCTD and/or thermosalinograph

surface & upper ocean (down to 700 meters) temperature & salinity & surface currents

Data Buoy Co-operation Panel (DBCP) & its action groups

1. Moored buoys

IOC, WMO

various buoy shapes equipped with met. surface sensors & various upper ocean measuring devices

met. surface obs. & various upper ocean variables

2. Drifting buoys

small buoys fitted with a drogue & equipped with limited sensors (from nothing to barometer, thermometers [air and/or sea surface], anemometer, thermistor chain, etc.]

surface currents and other variables, depending upon available sensors

The Global Sea Level Observing System (GLOSS)

IOC

tide gauges of various types, some equipped with GPS, or pressure gauges on the seabed

sea level

The Global Telecommunication System (GTS)

WMO

point to point ground- and space-based telecommunication facilities

global data and product exchange

The Global Temperature and Salinity Profile Programme (GTSPP)

IOC

N.A.

to provide data of the highest possible quality as quickly as possible to users through a "Continuously Managed Database" that merges real-time and delayed-mode data

The GOOS Centre at AOML

NOAA

N.A.

to operate and efficiently manage the XBT program utilising the United States VOS and the Global Drifter Program (GDP); to monitor and correct problems with the data flow, from those programs and from the TAO array, to the GTS; and to continue the development of XCTD, Thermosalinograph and ALACE or PALACE float systems.

The Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN)

IOC, UNEP, WMO, IUCN

N.A.

to improve management and sustainable conservation of coral reefs for people by assessing the status and trends in the reefs and how people use and value the resources.

The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey

SAHFOS

plankton collector, initially towed at a constant ~10m depth, recently undulating between the surface and up to 100m depth during a tow, fitted with environmental sensors

plankton monitoring in the North Atlantic, North Sea &, from 2000, the Pacific; now providing two-dimensional profiles of plankton and their environment (salinity, temperature and chlorophyll, possibly also oxygen and nutrients)

The International Bottom Trawl Survey (IBTS)

ICES

vessels capable of trawling and measuring bottom environmental variables (either research vessels or fishing trawlers specially chartered and equipped); readily accessible database maintained by ICES

data on a range of commercial fish species, including herring, sprat, mackerel, cod, haddock, whiting, saithe and Norwegian pout), along with concomitant physical and chemical oceanographic data (temperature, salinity, nutrients), used for fish stock assessments and provision of regional maps of bottom characteristics such as salinity and temperature

Time Series Station 'S' off Bermuda

ship-supported measurements at a single location over time (no funding for met. observations)

continuous: temperature, salinity, oxygen, fluorescence & light attenuation; discrete: salinity, oxygen, total CO₂, nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, silicate,etc.; rates of primary production, bacteria growth & pesticides fluxes

Time Series Station BRAVO in the Labrador Sea

BIO

Ocean Weather Ship (OWS)-supported measurements at a single location over time

changes in Labrador Sea Water (intermediate water mass), linked to the North Atlantic Oscillation & winter conditions in Greenland & Labrador Seas

The Electronic JCOMM Products Bulletin

IRI

web site

demonstration of downloadable operational oceanographic products

The Global Observing Systems Information Center (GOSIC)

US agencies (pilot project)

web

to provide descriptions of the 3 observing system elements, their data and their products, and information on how to obtain the data and products

California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI)

SIO

ship designed for mid-water trawling, also capable of conducting bottom trawls, longline sets, plankton tows, oceanographic vertical casts, mud sample bottom grabs, etc.

hydrographic data, primary productivity data, macrozooplankton, biomass, off California coast

MAJOR PILOT PROJECTS [These are specifically acknowledged as parts of GOOS]

The Baltic Operational Oceanographic System (BOOS)

EuroGOOS

multi-support operational observing system (fixed stations, ships, buoys, sea-ice network, etc;); international communication network; advanced data QC & validation systems; integrated internationa database; modelling centres

operational oceanographic service for the Baltic (near-real-time products on water level, waves, sea ice, temperature & salinity, currents, algae, hazardous substances, etc.)

The Mediterranean Forecasting System Pilot Project (MFSPP)

EuroGOOS

VOS-based temperature monitoring; moored buoy array (temperature, salinity & currents + biogeochemical & optical measurements); various data (in situ and satellite) assimilation schemes; near-real-time data transmission & product dissemination

prediction of marine ecosystem variability in coastal areas up to the primary producers and from the time scales of days to months, through validated ecosystem models (hydrodynamics & ecosystem fluctuations are connected to large-scale circulation)

The Pilot Research Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic (PIRATA)

Nat. Agencies in Brazil, France & USA

array of 12 next generation ATLAS buoys (see above); data transmission through Service Argos and available in near real-time on Internet.

to describe and understand the evolution of SST, upper ocean thermal structure and air-sea fluxes of momentum, heat and fresh water in the tropical Atlantic.

The Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE)

GODAE Bureau (Melbourne)

a comprehensive, integrated observing system would be established and held in place for an extended period, possibly three years, together with modeling and assimilation components, as well as adequate real-time telemetry and communications

aims to demonstrate the feasibility and practicality of real-time global ocean data modelling and assimilation systems, both in terms of their implementation and in terms of their utility.

The Argo project

GODAE, CLIVAR

new network of autonomous profiling floats

to greatly enhance the present level of upper ocean temperature and salinity measurement, to sustain improved understanding of climate variability and ocean variability over a range of space and time scales and to underpin a range of operational oceanographic applications

The Rapid Assessment of Marine Pollution (RAMP)

GOOS

test & validate easy-to-use, inexpensive chemical and biological markers; associated training

to be used to assess and improve environmental management in developing countries