The Work of the Ship Observations Team SOT with Darin Figurskey and Martin Kramp

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).