Toward an integrated pantropical ocean observing system
Global climate is regulated by the ocean, which stores, releases, and transports large amounts of mass, heat, carbon, and oxygen. Understanding, monitoring, and predicting the exchanges of these quantities across the ocean’s surface, their interactions with the atmosphere, and their horizontal and vertical pathways through the global oceans, are key for advancing fundamental knowledge and improving forecasts and longer-term projections of climate, weather, and ocean ecosystems. The existing global observing system provides immense value for science and society in this regard by supplying the data essential for these advancements. The tropical ocean observing system in particular has been developed over decades, motivated in large part by the far-reaching and complex global impacts of tropical climate variability and change. However, changes in observing needs and priorities, new challenges associated with climate change, and advances in observing technologies demand periodic evaluations to ensure that stakeholders’ needs are met. Previous reviews and assessments of the tropical observing system have focused separately on individual basins and their associated observing needs. Here we provide a broader perspective covering the tropical observing system as a whole. Common gaps, needs, and recommendations are identified, and interbasin differences driven by socioeconomic disparities are discussed, building on the concept of an integrated pantropical observing system. Finally, recommendations for improved observations of tropical basin interactions, through oceanic and atmospheric pathways, are presented, emphasizing the benefits that can be achieved through closer interbasin coordination and international partnerships.
Authors
- Belén Rodríguez‐Fonseca (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5261-7083)
- Clive R. McMahon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5241-8917)
- Mathew Koll Roxy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9311-5162)
- Adrienne J. Sutton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7414-7035)
- Gregory R. Foltz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0050-042X)
- Antonietta Capotondi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3594-5472)
- Fan Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5932-7567)
- Lev Looney (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6378-0653)
- Franz Philip Tuchen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2189-9217)
- Michael J. McPhaden (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8423-5805)
- Aneesh C. Subramanian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7805-0102)
- Peter Brandt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9235-955X)
- Fei Chai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5664-9592)
- Juliet Hermes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7858-514X)
- Cheyenne Stienbarger
- Sophie Cravatte (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2439-8952)
- Marcus Dengler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5993-9088)
- Yassir A. Eddebbar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4194-8311)
- Tamaryn Morris (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7198-2249)
- Janet Sprintall (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7428-7580)
- Regina R. Rodrigues (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8010-4018)
- Weidong Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2503-2415)
- Kathleen Bailey
Institutions
- Universidad Complutense de Madrid (ES)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (US)
- Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IN)
- Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (FR)
- University of Miami (US)
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography (US)
- University of Cape Town (ZA)
- Sun Yat-sen University (CN)
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (US)
- Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées (FR)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Xiamen University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (US)
- Centre National d'Études Spatiales (FR)
- NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratories (US)
- NOAA Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (US)
- Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE)
- GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (DE)
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (BR)
- Integrated Marine Observing System (AU)
- Ministry of Earth Sciences (IN)
- Institute of Oceanology (CN)
- Laboratoire d’Études en Géophysique et Océanographie Spatiales (FR)
- NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory (US)
- Sydney Institute of Marine Science (AU)
- South African Environmental Observation Network (ZA)
- Instituto de Geociencias (ES)
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Frontiers in Marine Science
- Published
- 2025-02-07
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2025.1539183
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Climate variability and models
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 4.42