El Ni ˜
no and Ocean Observations
93
1995). Likewise in the United States, Bob Knox chaired a committee of the National Research Council to consider the issue of long-term observations in support
of seasonal-to-interannual climate prediction in the post-TOGA era. The “Knox Report” (National Research Council, 1994) concluded that there were strong arguments
to sustain all components of the observing system that TOGA established, and that
“the TAO array is of the highest priority for continuation.”
It also became apparent that if TAO were to be sustained for the foreseeable
future, a dedicated research vessel would be required to service the array. Ship time
needs during the second half of TOGA were met using many ships from several
nations, with logistics coordinated through the TAO Implementation Panel. These
ship time arrangements were on a year-to year-basis, which worked reasonably well
as a short-term strategy. However, a more stable base of ship support would be needed
in the long term. Thus, NOAA acquired a surplus U.S. Navy submarine surveillance
vessel in late 1993 in anticipation of using it for moored buoy maintenance work. The
ship, the USNS Titan, was one of several that were no longer needed when the Navy
mission changed with the fall of the Soviet empire and the end of the Cold War. After
a conversion design phase, the ship was refit for buoy work in 1995 and rechristened
in May 1996 as the NOAA ship Ka’imimoana (which means “Ocean Seeker” in
Hawaiian). Commitment was further strengthened in November 1997, when the U.S.
Congress authorized NOAA to provide $4.9 million per year in long-term support to
cover the annual operating costs of TAO and other in situ components of the ENSO
Observing System (which was the name given to the TOGA Observing System after
TOGA ended).
TAO and other satellite and in situ elements of the ENSO Observing System
were fully in place to capture the evolution of the 1997–98 El Ni˜ no, by some measures
the strongest on record (McPhaden, 1999a,b; Picaut et al., 2002). Unlike in 1982–83,
the evolution of the 1997–98 El Ni˜ no was tracked day-by-day from its very beginning.
TOGA advances in El Ni˜ no modeling and prediction, together with real-time data
streams for model initialization, allowed forecasters to reliably anticipate some of
the climatic consequences of the 1997–98 El Ni˜ no months in advance (Barnston
et al., 1999). It is estimated that in California alone, the economic benefits from
advance warnings of El Ni˜ no impacts amounted to $1 billion (Changnon, 1999). In
a postmortem assessment of the event, G.O.P. Obasi, Director General of the World
Meteorological Organization, noted that “[t]he array of moored buoys stretching
across the Pacific Ocean, originally established by the TOGA programme . . . has
been an invaluable source of data for monitoring and modeling the event” (Obasi,
1998).
Aside from providing data in real time for ENSO monitoring and forecasting,
TAO set a new standard for free and open access to oceanographic data for scientific research. From the start, TAO data were considered a community resource
and made publicly available, generally within a day of collection. This policy represented a radical break from oceanographic tradition in which principal investigators
would typically withhold new oceanographic observations from circulation for many
no and Ocean Observations
93
1995). Likewise in the United States, Bob Knox chaired a committee of the National Research Council to consider the issue of long-term observations in support
of seasonal-to-interannual climate prediction in the post-TOGA era. The “Knox Report” (National Research Council, 1994) concluded that there were strong arguments
to sustain all components of the observing system that TOGA established, and that
“the TAO array is of the highest priority for continuation.”
It also became apparent that if TAO were to be sustained for the foreseeable
future, a dedicated research vessel would be required to service the array. Ship time
needs during the second half of TOGA were met using many ships from several
nations, with logistics coordinated through the TAO Implementation Panel. These
ship time arrangements were on a year-to year-basis, which worked reasonably well
as a short-term strategy. However, a more stable base of ship support would be needed
in the long term. Thus, NOAA acquired a surplus U.S. Navy submarine surveillance
vessel in late 1993 in anticipation of using it for moored buoy maintenance work. The
ship, the USNS Titan, was one of several that were no longer needed when the Navy
mission changed with the fall of the Soviet empire and the end of the Cold War. After
a conversion design phase, the ship was refit for buoy work in 1995 and rechristened
in May 1996 as the NOAA ship Ka’imimoana (which means “Ocean Seeker” in
Hawaiian). Commitment was further strengthened in November 1997, when the U.S.
Congress authorized NOAA to provide $4.9 million per year in long-term support to
cover the annual operating costs of TAO and other in situ components of the ENSO
Observing System (which was the name given to the TOGA Observing System after
TOGA ended).
TAO and other satellite and in situ elements of the ENSO Observing System
were fully in place to capture the evolution of the 1997–98 El Ni˜ no, by some measures
the strongest on record (McPhaden, 1999a,b; Picaut et al., 2002). Unlike in 1982–83,
the evolution of the 1997–98 El Ni˜ no was tracked day-by-day from its very beginning.
TOGA advances in El Ni˜ no modeling and prediction, together with real-time data
streams for model initialization, allowed forecasters to reliably anticipate some of
the climatic consequences of the 1997–98 El Ni˜ no months in advance (Barnston
et al., 1999). It is estimated that in California alone, the economic benefits from
advance warnings of El Ni˜ no impacts amounted to $1 billion (Changnon, 1999). In
a postmortem assessment of the event, G.O.P. Obasi, Director General of the World
Meteorological Organization, noted that “[t]he array of moored buoys stretching
across the Pacific Ocean, originally established by the TOGA programme . . . has
been an invaluable source of data for monitoring and modeling the event” (Obasi,
1998).
Aside from providing data in real time for ENSO monitoring and forecasting,
TAO set a new standard for free and open access to oceanographic data for scientific research. From the start, TAO data were considered a community resource
and made publicly available, generally within a day of collection. This policy represented a radical break from oceanographic tradition in which principal investigators
would typically withhold new oceanographic observations from circulation for many