Ocean observations


The following are considered essential ocean climate variables by the Ocean Observations Panel for Climate that are currently feasible with current observational systems.

Ocean climate variables

Atmosphere surface

Air Temperature

Precipitation

evaporation

Air Pressure, sea level pressure

Surface radiative fluxes

Surface thermodynamic fluxes

Wind speed and direction

Surface wind stress

Water vapor

Ocean surface


Sea surface salinity

Sea level

Sea state

Sea ice

Ocean current

Ocean color

Carbon dioxide partial pressure

Ocean subsurface

Satellite

There is a composite network of satellites that generate observations. These include:
TypeVariables observedResponsible organizations
Infrared SST, sea iceCEOS, IGOS, CGMS
AMSR-class microwaveSST, wind speed, sea iceCEOS, IGOS, CGMS
Surface vector wind surface vector wind, sea iceCEOS, IGOS, CGMS
Ocean colorchlorophyll concentration IOCCG
high-precision altimetrysea-level anomaly from steady stateCEOS, IGOS, CGMS
low-precision altimetrysea levelCEOS, IGOS, CGMS
Synthetic aperture radarsea ice, sea stateCEOS, IGOS, CGMS

''In situ''

There is a composite network of in situ observations. These include:
TypeVariables observedResponsible organizations
Global surface drifting buoy array with 5 degree resolution SST, SLP, Current JCOMM
Global tropical moored buoy network typically SST and surface vector wind, but can also include SLP, current, air-sea flux variablesJCOMM DBCP Tropical Moored Buoy Implementation Panel
Volunteer Observing Ship fleetall feasible surface ECVsJCOMM Ship Observations Team
VOSClimall feasible surface ECVs plus extensive ship metadataJCOMM Ship Observations Team
Global referencing mooring network all feasible surface ECVsOceanSITES
GLOSS core sea-level network, plus regional/national networkssea levelJCOMM GLOSS
Carbon VOSpCO2, SST, SSSIOCCP
Sea ice buoyssea iceJCOMM DBCP IABP and IPAB

Subsurface

There is a composite network of subsurface observations. These include:
TypeVariables observedResponsible organizations
Repeat XBT line network TemperatureJCOMM Ship Observations Team
Global tropical moored buoy network Temperature, salinity, current, other feasible autonomously observable ECVsJCOMM DBCP Tropical Moored Buoy Implementation Panel
Reference mooring network all autonomously observable ECVsOceanSITES
Sustained and repeated ship-based hydrography networkAll feasible ECVs, including those that depend on obtaining water samplesIOCCP, CLIVAR, other national efforts
Argo networktemperature, salinity, currentArgo
Critical current and transport monitoringtemperature, heat, freshwater, carbon transports, massCLIVAR, IOCCP, OceanSITES
Regional and global synthesis programmesinferred currents, transports gridded fields of all ECVsGODAE, CLIVAR, other national efforts
Cabled ocean observatoriesaudio, backscatter, chlorophyll, CO2, conductivity, currents, density, Eh, gravity, iron, irradiance, methane, nitrate, oxygen, pressure, salinity, seismic, sigma-T, sound velocity, temperature, turbidity, videoOcean Networks Canada, Monterey Accelerated Research System, Ocean Observatories Initiative, ALOHA, ESONET, Dense Oceanfloor Network System for Earthquakes and Tsunamis, Fixed-Point Open Ocean Observatories.

Accuracy of measurements

The quality of in situ measurements is non-uniform across space, time and platforms. Different platforms employ a large variety of sensors, which operate in a wide range of often hostile environments and use different measurement protocols. Occasionally, buoys are left unattended for extended periods of time, while ships may involve a certain amount of the human-related impacts in data collection and transmission. Therefore, quality control is necessary before in situ data can be further used in scientific research or other applications. This is an example of quality control and monitoring of sea surface temperatures measured by ships and buoys, the iQuam system developed at NOAA/NESDIS/STAR, where statistics show the quality of in situ measurements of sea surface temperatures.
One of the problems facing real-time ocean observatories is the ability to provide a fast and accurate assessment of the data quality. Ocean Networks Canada is in the process of implementing real-time quality control on incoming data. For scalar data, the aim is to meet the guidelines of the Quality Assurance of Real Time Oceanographic Data group. QARTOD is a US organization tasked with identifying issues involved with incoming real-time data from the U.S Integrated Ocean Observing System. A large portion of their agenda is to create guidelines for how the quality of real-time data is to be determined and reported to the scientific community. Real-time data quality testing at Ocean Networks Canada includes tests designed to catch instrument failures and major spikes or data dropouts before the data is made available to the user. Real-time quality tests include meeting instrument manufacturer's standards and overall observatory/site ranges determined from previous data. Due to the positioning of some instrument platforms in highly productive areas, we have also designed dual-sensor tests e.g. for some conductivity sensors. The quality control testing is split into 3 separate categories. The first category is in real-time and tests the data before the data are parsed into the database. The second category is delayed-mode testing where archived data are subject to testing after a certain period of time. The third category is manual quality control by an Ocean Networks Canada data expert.

Historical data available

OceanSITES manages a set of links to various sources of available ocean data, including: the Hawaiian Ocean Timeseries, the JAMSTEC Kuroshio Extension Observatory, Line W monitoring the North Atlantic's deep western boundary current, and others.
This site includes links to the ARGO Float Data, The Data Library and Archives, the Falmouth Monthly Climate Reports, Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory, the Multibeam Archive, the Seafloor Data and Observation Visualization Environment : A Web-served GIS Database of Multi-scalar Seafloor Data, Seafloor Sediments Data Collection, the Upper Ocean Mooring Data Archive, the U.S. GLOBEC Data System, U.S. JGOFS Data System, and the WHOI Ship Data-Grabber System.
There are a variety of data sets in a data library listed at Columbia University:
This library includes:
In situ observations spanning from the early 1700s to present are available from the International Comprehensive Ocean Atmosphere Data Set.
This data set includes observations of a number of the surface ocean and atmospheric variables from ships, moored and drifting buoys and C-MAN stations.
In 2006, Ocean Networks Canada began collecting high-resolution in-situ measurements from the seafloor in Saanich Inlet, near Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Monitoring sites were later extended to the Strait of Georgia and 5 locations off the West coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. All historical measurements are freely available via Ocean Networks Canada's data portal, Oceans 2.0.

Future developments

Areas requiring research and development
The future of oceanic observation systems: