GOOS Webinar

Ship Observations Team (SOT)

Darin Figurskey, National Weather Service (NWS)

Martin Kramp, JCOMM in situ Observations Programme Support Centre (JCOMMOPS)

13 December, 14:00 UTC/GMT

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Weather, sea state, and surface ocean observations have been collected and disseminated on a systematic basis for over 150 years.  Observations from ships provide important real-time information on meteorological conditions at sea, along with a long record of observations important for climate applications.  The work of the WMO IOC JCOMM Ship Observations Team (SOT) consists of several very successful and enduring data collection programs including Voluntary Observing Ships (VOS) and Ships Of Opportunity (SOOP).

The individual programs presently support research, climate forecasting, numerical weather prediction and maritime safety services among other applications.  Variables measured include surface meteorological observations, plus sub-sets for upper air meteorological and upper ocean physical data. The role of the SOT and its nine task teams is to respond to requirements for ship-based observational data, including metadata, expressed by relevant international programs and/or systems in support of marine services, and to coordinate actions to implement and maintain the networks to satisfy these requirements.

This presentation will discuss in brief the organization of the SOT, and its components for gathering information for safety of life at sea and other meteorological, oceanographic and climate purposes.  The presentation will then focus on the Voluntary Observing Ship (VOS) program, why VOS is important, and potential future means of collecting observations. In addition, the presenters will share the importance of ships to many observing networks and how joint ship activities can be better coordinated and monitored with tools of the JCOMM Observations Program Support Centre (JCOMMOPS), based on a harmonized platform metadata structure with unique identifiers.

A future presentation will focus on the SOT Ship-of-Opportunity Program (SOOP).

Darin Figurskey has been with the National Weather Service (NWS) since January 16, 1990.  Darin has worked at NWS offices in Flint, Michigan, Detroit, Michigan, Lubbock, Texas, White Lake, Michigan, Buffalo, New York, and Raleigh, North Carolina, prior to him becoming the Operations Branch Chief at the Ocean Prediction Center in December, 2015.  Darin is in charge of the operational forecast and warning services for the Ocean Prediction Center’s area of responsibility that covers the high seas of the north Atlantic and north Pacific. The Ocean Prediction Center also produces forecast information for part of the Arctic Ocean.  Darin became the Chair of the SOT in November, 2017.

Martin Kramp joined the JCOMM Observations Program Support Centre (JCOMMOPS) as Ship Coordinator on February 4, 2013.  With an academic background in business engineering and having sailed more than 100.000 nautical miles on pleasure, racing and research yachts, he was formerly in charge of R&D for oceanographic and meteorological equipment on sailing vessels (OceanoScientific Programme) and became a member of the SOT in 2009.  In his JCOMMOPS role, Martin is also the Technical Coordinator of the SOT and GO-SHIP Repeat Hydrography program; he is also tasked with all other ship related matters (e.g. cruise planning, deployment and recovery of autonomous instruments) and has been seconded in this position from UNESCO’s IOC to WMO in 2017.

More information on the webinar series »

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