Status of the Global Ocean Observing System – April 2015 David Legler, Director Climate Obs Division NOAA Climate Program Office OOPC – April 2015 Sendai, Japan

Overview Will briefly and incompletely review recent status of the observing system: Platform count % achieved Maps of spatial coverage of selected platforms New regional time series of obs by ECV Some thoughts about status and risks

SUMMARY The observing system has recovered its previous status, especially TAO array and drifting buoys. Number count for many platforms is pretty good. Spatial coverage (distribution of obs) could be improved.

Overall System Completion Metric, GTS-obs-based

SST Obs, Drifters, 26-28Feb15

Ship SST: 26-28Feb; 1-28Feb

SOT Status

SOT some indicators

Repeat XBT Line Status 2012

Fraction of 5x5° boxes with at least 25 weekly SST obs All platforms Drifting Buoys Shore stations Tide Gauges Ships Moorings North Pacific South PacificSouth Atlantic South Indian Tropical North Atlantic Argo Profilers SST Observation Evolution Ice-Free Ocean (60S:60N)

SST Observation Evolution Fraction of 5x5° boxes with at least 25 weekly SST* obs * includes ARGO and XBT near surface obs All platforms Drifting Buoys Shore stations Tide Gauges Ships Argo Profilers Moorings North Pacific South PacificSouth Atlantic South Indian Tropical North Atlantic Ice-Free Ocean (60S:60N)

90day Forecast, Drifters

SLP Obs, Drifters, 26-28Feb15

All platforms Drifting Buoys Shore stations Tide Gauges Ships Moorings North Pacific South PacificSouth AtlanticSouth Indian Tropical North Atlantic Fraction of 5x5° boxes with at least 10 weekly SLP obs Argo Profilers SLP Observation Evolution Ice-Free Ocean (60S:60N)

Argo Floats, 19-28Feb15

National Contributions to Argo. 4/13

Argo’s future (status) Marginal Seas: 100% Equatorial: 100%WBC 50% Polar 50%

Some Indicators (Argo)

Mooring Tprofiles, Mar15

All platforms Drifting Buoys Shore stations Tide Gauges Ships Moorings North Pacific South PacificSouth AtlanticSouth Indian TropicalNorth Atlantic Fraction of 6x6° boxes with at least 3 monthly ZTMP obs Argo Profilers Temperature Profile Observation Evolution Ice-Free Ocean (60S:60N)

GO-SHIP Repeat-Survey Plan 2014: A25, AR07, P01, P16S, SR01 Completed

Limited GTS Status Info: GLOSS Tide Gauges SOOP XBT Lines Ocean Sites Moorings

GLOSS Status

Ocean SITES

System Performance JCOMMOPS + OSMC JCOMMOPS re-established in Brest (Ifremer) – Focus on networks perspective – Argo, DBCP, OceanSITES, GLOSS, SOT, GO-SHIP – Increased resources (local and EU), and upcoming new webservices OSMC focus on EOVs perspective and facilitate an integrated data access Regular discussions (webex) with networks, OOPC, JCOMM OCG, JCOMMOPS, OSMC on the design of common performance indicators and overall workplan Good indicators requires clear targets from networks, and interpretation scales to relay the right messages OOPC Network Specification templates, once finalized, will help

JCOMMOPS

Remarks How to improve spatial coverage ? -more international cooperation required -More careful planning and combined ship time initiatives -Improve monitoring toolbox and design appropriate and integrated indicators I would add also: -Improve data and metadata flow (facilitate free data access, standardize formats through proper data teams, operationalize data flows) -Monitor market status and instruments reliability (not improving everywhere), and encourage diversity (vs monopolistic situations) -Succeed with the multidisciplinary turn with BGC obs. systems (fund data management and ship time as well)