Global Ocean Observing System
The Global Ocean Observing System , GOOS for short , is a system of weather stations , measuring satellites and floating buoys .
coordination
The project is largely coordinated by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of San Diego in the USA.
Global drifters
A total of 1250 measuring buoys are currently drifting across the oceans. These are called global drifters. They are the size of a ball. They record the water temperatures and the salinity. The data is transmitted via satellite.
Argo floats
These measuring buoys are a further development of the Global Drifter, are around two meters long and weigh 30 kilograms. The Argo Floats can dive up to 2000 meters deep and determine the water temperature, pressure and salinity. They reappear every ten days for data transmission via satellite. The diving process is controlled by an artificial swim bladder . By the end of October 2007, 3,000 copies of these measuring buoys had been released.
Goal setting
The data should be used for marine and climate research. In Germany, the data obtained are evaluated by the German Weather Service in Offenbach am Main . The numerous buoys also float in the zones of the world's oceans in which ships rarely sail. Thus, the buoys deliver huge amounts of data to supplement the climate models and to create better weather reports. The GOOS measurement network is one of the sub-areas of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). The results are then published in the network ( UNEP-GRID ) of the United Nations Environment Program .