Foreword
I am proud to join with my colleagues in celebrating the World Ocean Circulation Experiment
(WOCE), one of the largest and most successful ocean endeavours ever undertaken by the international community. In 1988 I was Chairman of the WOCE Scientific Steering Group at the time
of the International WOCE Conference in Paris. Scientific discussions throughout the 1980s had
resulted in first a WOCE Science Plan and finally an Implementation Plan. At the International
Conference, chaired by Gerold Siedler, countries made commitments to implementation.
Now, some 13 years later, it gives me great pleasure to introduce this book. It encapsulates
the enormous strides that have been made during the 1990s in understanding ocean circulation
and its role in climate. This progress would not have been possible without the advances in technology (satellite and in-situ measurement, global high-accuracy navigation, supercomputing, the
Internet) that we now take for granted. But WOCE provided the stimulus and the framework for
addressing the oceans’ role in climate on a global scale.
The obvious success of WOCE provides an object lesson in selfless international collaboration. Almost all WOCE data are already publicly available and will provide a unique resource
for researchers to use for many years to come. WOCE also provides a sound scientific and technological foundation on which to build future research and operational ocean activities.
Finally, this foreword should pay tribute both to the small group of far-sighted individuals
who embarked on this project and to the many others who over the years have guided WOCE to
the success it has now achieved.
D. James Baker
Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere
Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
US Department of Commerce
Washington, DC, USA
October 2000
I am proud to join with my colleagues in celebrating the World Ocean Circulation Experiment
(WOCE), one of the largest and most successful ocean endeavours ever undertaken by the international community. In 1988 I was Chairman of the WOCE Scientific Steering Group at the time
of the International WOCE Conference in Paris. Scientific discussions throughout the 1980s had
resulted in first a WOCE Science Plan and finally an Implementation Plan. At the International
Conference, chaired by Gerold Siedler, countries made commitments to implementation.
Now, some 13 years later, it gives me great pleasure to introduce this book. It encapsulates
the enormous strides that have been made during the 1990s in understanding ocean circulation
and its role in climate. This progress would not have been possible without the advances in technology (satellite and in-situ measurement, global high-accuracy navigation, supercomputing, the
Internet) that we now take for granted. But WOCE provided the stimulus and the framework for
addressing the oceans’ role in climate on a global scale.
The obvious success of WOCE provides an object lesson in selfless international collaboration. Almost all WOCE data are already publicly available and will provide a unique resource
for researchers to use for many years to come. WOCE also provides a sound scientific and technological foundation on which to build future research and operational ocean activities.
Finally, this foreword should pay tribute both to the small group of far-sighted individuals
who embarked on this project and to the many others who over the years have guided WOCE to
the success it has now achieved.
D. James Baker
Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere
Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
US Department of Commerce
Washington, DC, USA
October 2000