How communications and data services have revolutionised

Ocean ObservingKaty Hill,

Programme Officer, Ocean Observations Panel for Climate

The role of the oceans in the climate system

Nuccitelli et al., 2012

Observing the ocean…

“That's life at sea: you get what you get and you don't get upset.”Martin Visbeck, GEOMAR.

Ship Observations (SOOP/VOS)

Repeat Hydrography

Moorings (Red) and Drifters (Blue)

Argo: a revolution in Oceanography: routine global subsurface ocean observations

The challenges of sustaining observations

New Technologies…

Animal Tagging: Elephant Seals

• Mapping under the sea ice for the first time (complement Argo)

Charassin et al., 2008 From Steve Rintoul

Key messages

• Understanding the ocean is essential to understanding our climate system, and our ability to predict it. – Absorbing most of the excess heat, and a large chunk of the

carbon. – Drives inter-annual variability in the tropics, and decadal variability

at mid-latitudes.

• We are only beginning to see the benefits of a comprehensive subsurface ocean observing system. – Enabled by advances in communications and data services.

Thank you!

Dr Katherine (Katy) Hill, OOPC Programme Officer.

khill@wmo.int

GCOS Secretariat,