The Global Oceans observing System

Improving understanding of the role the world’s oceans play in climate change has become a priority for the IOC of UNESCO. Together with the world Meteorological Organization (WMO) and other bodies, the IOC set up the global ocean Observing system (GOOS) in 1985.

Little-by-little, an army of satellites, ships and buoys have been deployed to monitor the world’s oceans. They record water temperature, colour and salinity, wave height, current velocity and wind speed at regular intervals. These data are then transferred to super computers on all the continents where they are input into digital models that are used by scientists to simulate the behavior of great expanses of the high seas and coastal regions in order to prepare forecasts.

Global Ocean Observing System

An observation and research system has been set up in the tropical pacific to forecast the EI Nino phenomenon. It’s called the TOGA programme. All the governments concerned contribute to this programme; they may use the data collected to try to lower the potential effect of either drought or flooding in relation to agriculture, the use of water, management of the fishing industry and all other activities that depend on atmospheric conditions. 

         More important still, the programme has developed models that scientists now use to forecast the coming of EI Nino one year in advance.

Physical Oceanographic

‘EI Nino’ generally occurs around Christmas-its name in fact means ‘the infant Jesus’-along the south American coasts of the pacific. The phenomenon occurs with more or less intensity every three to four years. It is believed to be caused by changes in the circulation of the trade winds. Normally these winds blow from east to west, pushing warm surface water towards Indonesia and Australia, and allowing deeper, colder water to surface along the south American coast. But sometimes the trade winds are not very strong or even blow in the wrong direction. The warm water is driven towards South America and raises the temperature of the ocean. The result is the giving off of heat and humidity that provokes storms and torrential rains in normally very arid regions.

This is called; opera-tional oceanography’. The forecasts are available to be both public and private users. Weather services use them to forecast the weather and save lives, for example by identifying a hurricane in formation. Some scientists estimate that the sea level rises by 2.5 mm per year due to global warming and that this could cause the flooding of inhabited zones and agricultural areas.