Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS)

Crucial to the development of effective policies governing the exploitation of the oceans, and to the sustainable management of the ocean's resources, is scientific information that profiles the physical state of the oceans and monitors it for relevant changes. Furthermore, understanding the impacts of human activities on the seas, as well as sorting out ocean-atmosphere interactions, climate and extreme events such as tsunamis and hurricanes, requires globally coordinated, regularly gathered and recorded data on the ocean's physical and biogeochemical characteristics. The Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) is designed to fulfill these needs. Technically, GOOS is a global network of ships, buoys (fixed and drifting), subsurface floats, tide gauges and satellites that collect real time data on the physical state as well as the biogeochemical profile of the world's oceans, and convert it into valuable end products. GOOS has a dual use. On the one hand it is a research tool providing scientists with the information needed to understand the workings of the oceans and climate; on the other hand it is a mechanism for operational oceanography, whose products are tailored to facilitate the management of the global oceans at all scales by multiple users such as fisherman, meteorologists, commercial shippers, coastal managers, etc. Data collected by the observing subsystem contribute to the creation of such products as, among others: Measurements and forecasts of changes in water level, positions and strengths of currents, wave heights and forecasts of unusually high waves, sea ice measurements and coverage, rainfall measurements and forecasts (droughts and floods), maps and forecasts of Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB), assessments of the vulnerability of fish stocks and farms and forecasts of likely weather or climate related disease outbreaks. Sea Surface Temperature (SST) image courtesy of NOAA

While many elements of GOOS are already in place, several are still in the research stage. The most significant research program for the decade to 2010 is the Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE), which will extend the ability of the scientific community to use state-of-the-art supercomputers to produce advanced numerical models that can assimilate and integrate data from both ocean-based and space-based measuring systems to simulate the behaviour of the oceans, at high resolution, to serve as the basis for improved forecasts. The creation of GODAE has required the establishment of the first ever system for obtaining global information on the temperature and salinity of the ocean's subsurface waters down to 2000 metres, through the use of special profiling floats in the Argo project. At the height of the experiment, between 2003 and 2007, it is envisaged that some 3000 such floats will be deployed.

In recognition of the sheer enormity of information contained in the seas, and to promote the development of operational oceanography in a way that meets the requirements of all the potential user communities, responsibility for the design of GOOS is divided between two modules. One module focuses on the physical and biogeochemical processes of the open ocean, and the design is being developed by the Ocean Observations Panel for Climate (OOPC). The other module focuses on data and products relevant to the coastal oceans, where the design is being developed by the Coastal Ocean Observations Panel (COOP). The implementation of GOOS takes place on three scales: international, regional and local (national), via projects and programs calibrated to the GOOS Strategic Plan and Principles, and aimed at meeting the obligations of states to international agreements and national policies. This requires the existence of GOOS coordinating committees at the international, regional, and local (national) levels. The committees ensure that relevant national, regional and international needs are being met while operating to a common set of standards and operating procedures. The Gobal Oceans Observing System (GOOS) is the evolving product of a joint effort by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), and the International Council for Science (ICSU), and led by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (IOC-UNESCO). It has been created to satisfy the requirement of UNCED's Agenda 21, which mandates a coordinated global effort to scientifically observe and describe the world's oceans in the continuing effort to improve global ocean and weather forecasting and marine resource management strategies for sustainable development. In addition, the open ocean measurements of GOOS are the marine components of the Global Climate Observing System, (GCOS) which supports the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.