TAO Project

Mission: To provide real-time data from moored ocean buoys for improved detection, understanding, and prediction of El Niño and La Niña

Customers:

1) Climate Forecasters

2) Research Community

3) Educators (primary through graduate school level)

4) General Public

TAO (NOAA/Pacific Marine Environmental

Laboratory)

TRITON (Japan Marine Science and Technology Center)

Plus French (IRD) conductivity cells and the occasional day of shiptime

TAO/TRITON ArrayA Key Component of the ENSO Observing System

• Developed during TOGA (1985-1994); became TAO/TRITON in Jan 2000

• Complements other in situ & satellite observations

• High resolution time series of key VariablesSea surface temperatureSurface windsUpper ocean heat contentOcean currentsOther

• Real-time data delivery

TAO/TRITON ArrayA Key Component of the ENSO Observing System

“…the crowning achievement of TOGA was the

development of the TAO array…”

EOS, Trans. AGU

TAO/TRITON Data

TAO/TRITON Data

Value for ENSO Prediction

“…the array of moored buoys established for TOGA… has been an invaluable source of data for monitoring and modeling the [1997-98] event…”

--G.O.P Obasi, Sect. General, WMO, 1998

“Scientists generally agree that ocean observatories’ shining accomplishment has been the prediction of El Niños…[enabled by] the network of buoys known as the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean project…”

--Science News, Dec. 2002

Value for ENSO Prediction

“One of the most successful deep-sea programs has been the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) array in the equatorial Pacific…[which] enabled improved detection, understanding and prediction of El Niño events…”

--Enabling Ocean Research in the 21st Century: Implementation of a Network of Ocean Observatories National Research Council, 2003

Value for ENSO Prediction

Success in predicting the 2002-03 El Niño was due to “…a combination of more experience watching El Niños develop, 2 decades of research, and the observation network that NOAA and NASA have invested in.”

--Vernon Kousky, NOAA Climate Prediction Center Science, 26 July 2002

Recent TAO-related Research (Mooring-based)

• Analysis of TAO & PIRATA Data (~50 pubs/yr)• PMEL/MBARI Moored CO2 and Bio-optical

Measurements• PACS/EPIC Field Work and Analyses• NASA/TRMM Rainfall Data Collection• University of Washington Acoustic Rainfall

Measurements• DOE/ARM Shortwave Radiation Measurements• University of Maryland Bioptical Measurements

(PIRATA)

Recent TAO-related Research (KA and RB Focused)

• Underway ADCP Measurements (U. Hawaii)• CTD Surveys (PMEL)• Underway Surface Carbon Measurements (PMEL)• Atmospheric Chemistry (Scripps, Princeton)• Atmospheric Radiation (NASA)• Atmospheric Circulation (U. Washington)• Air-sea Turbulent Fluxes (NOAA/ETL)• Nutrient Sampling (MBARI)• Iron Limitation Studies (NASA/Goddard)• Pacific Barnacle Program (Bloomsberg U.)• Float and Drifter Deployments (Scripps, AOML)• Big-eye Tuna Project (NOAA/NMFS)• Surface skin temperature measurements (UW/APL)

Pilot Moored Research Array in the Tropical Atlantic

A partnership between the US, France, and Brazil

Mooring Data Return(August 2002-July 2003)

• TAO: 84%

• PIRATA: 65%

Data and Information Dissemination

TAO data are made available to the worldwide community of forecasters and researchers via the WWW and GTS in real-time and delayed mode

Aug ‘02-July ‘03: 130,370 files delivered in 12,235 separate requests via WWW

Aug ‘02-July ‘03: 22,596,338 Web hits

Shiptime

FY2003 (actual)TAO: 267 days • 232 Ka’imimoana

• 35 Ron BrownPIRATA: 55 days • 31 Suroit (FR) • 24 Antares (BR)

FY 2004 (approved)TAO: 265 days • 230 Ka’imimoana • 35 Ron BrownPIRATA: ?? days • ?? Suroit (FR) • ?? Antares (BR)

Person-days at Sea FY 2003

• Pacific: 658• Atlantic: 84

Person-day= No. ship days at sea x No. TAO staff on board

Moorings Deployed FY 2003

• Pacific: 71• Atlantic: 10

FY 2003 TAO Project Staff ~20 FTEs*

• Management: 2• Electronics Techs: 5.5• Mooring Techs: 4.5• Data Processing: 6• Oceanographers: 2

* Includes TAO/PIRATA; includes 0.5 FTE for McPhaden; does not include PMEL base support for engineering development.

FY 2003 TAO Project Staff ~20 FTEs*

• GS: 10.5• JISAO (UW): 6• NOAA Corps: 1• GSA Contract: 2.5

* Includes TAO/PIRATA; includes 0.5 FTE for McPhaden; does not include PMEL base support for engineering development.

TAO Project FY 2003 Budgets*

• TAO (OAR) $2,575,000• PIRATA (OGP) $600,000• PMEL Base $400,000• TOTAL=$3,575,000

* Does not include NOAA Shiptime (~$5M/yr)

TAO Project FY 2003 Budgets(Grants & Contracts)

• Salaries: ~50%• Supplies and Equipment: ~40%• Shipping and Travel: ~5%• Computer: ~5%

Summary“The ENSO Observing System...including the TAO/TRITON mooring array...pioneered real-time public data delivery in order to serve…both research and operational objectives. [Its] successes...in better understanding ENSO variability and successful seasonal prediction...have paved the way for global observations to build on its capabilities.”

D. Roemmich and J. GouldIn “The Future of In Situ Climate Observations for the Global Ocean”CLIVAR Exchanges, March 2003

Summary

“Proponents of co-operation [for developing an internationally sponsored global earth observing system] point to the system of buoys and monitoring stations set up on the Pacific in recent years to keep track of El Niño…”

Editorial on the First Earth Observation SummitThe Economist24 July 2003