New Release: 2021 Ocean Observing System Report Card

This year’s Report Card focuses on: 1) the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on ocean observation activities and the remarkable effort of the international community to carry-on observing operations under pandemic restrictions, 2) monitoring ocean oxygen and deoxygenation – vital to ocean health and marine resources, and 3) status of the global ocean observing system and the growth of the system (including US priorities for BGC and deep Argo) to meet key demands for ocean information. NOAA’s Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing Program (GOMO), and its OAR lab and CI partners support and contribute to many of the networks highlighted in the Report Card, including Argo, the Global Drifter Program, the Tropical Pacific Observing System 2020, as well as community collaboration projects in the Arctic. 

GOMO Director David Legler, Chair of the GOOS Observations Coordination Group, is quoted in the press release and features a “Call to Action” note in the Report Card: “This year the global ocean observing system has continued to progress and evolve despite the significant challenges of responding to a global pandemic. Looking ahead, we must continue to increase cooperation and coordination across the international community, engage more fully with the private sector, and integrate more the local communities in ocean observing.” You can read the press release or download the Ocean Observing System Report Card for details.