The United States Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS (R)) is a user-driven, coordinated network of people, organizations, and technology that generates and disseminates continuous data about our coastal waters, Great Lakes, and oceans. IOOS (R) is our Eyes on our Oceans, Coasts and Great Lakes. A tool that will enable the nation to track, predict, manage, and adapt to changes in our marine environment and deliver critical information to decision makers to improve safety, enhance our economy and protect our environment. IOOS is a major shift in approach to ocean observing by drawing together the vast network of disparate federal and non-federal observing systems to produce a cohesive suite of data, information, and products on a sufficient geographic and temporal scale to support decision-making. As the system matures, IOOS is expected to advance beyond its current science and management applications toward an instrument of policy and governance. Current efforts only scratch the surface of what we need to know about our oceans and coasts to fully assess their impact on commerce and transportation, weather and climate, and ecosystems. The power of IOOS is in its partnerships. The key across the global and coastal components of IOOS is partnership. Seventeen United States federal agencies participate in the process. The IOOS Regional Coastal Component is comprised of eleven Regional Coastal Ocean Observing Systems (RCOOSs) and the Alliance of Coastal Technologies. Together we share responsibility for the design, implementation, operation, and improvement of the United States. Two interdependent components constitute the United State IOOS: (1) global ocean component and (2) coastal component. The latter includes the national set of observations for the Great Lakes and the EEZ, as well as the network of RCOOSs. Federal agencies are responsible for the design, operation, and improvement of both the global component and the national network of observations. RCOOSs augment existing federal observing capacity around the nation and ensure strong customer focus and connection. Each RCOOS, which is comprised of a series of sub-regional observing systems, is designed and managed by a single Regional Association (RA). The Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) is comprised of multiple institutions that provide sensor validation and verification. Within the United States, an Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) will enable the United States to make more effective use of existing resources, new knowledge, and advances in technology. The rapid growth in the number of people living in immediate proximity to the ocean is placing increased demand on coastal ecosystems and threatening their integrity and capacity to provide goods and services such as storm mitigation. This demographic trend is also placing an increasingly large segment of our society at risk to natural hazards. Reducing risks from a broad range of threats associated with the oceans, including waterborne toxins, storm surge, coastal flooding, and unsafe marine transportation, depends on the ability to characterize and understand complex coastal-ocean phenomena, rapidly detect changes in the marine ecosystems and living resources, predict changes in our coastal-ocean environments, and adapt to these changes. IOOS continues to develop new approaches to ocean management to effectively address these challenges. Thousands of data collection and management systems from satellites orbiting above the Earth to sensors trolling along the bottom of the ocean are gathering data. Many of these systems collect, distribute, and archive the same data (temperature, salinity, etc.) but in different ways. This disparity results in data that cannot be combined or analyzed together, are not easily accessible, and may never be known to exist. Consequently, time and resources are wasted converting disparate data and potentially duplicating data collections. Data from existing observing systems would be much more useful and timely if it were linked and presented in an integrated, standardized way. The United States Integrated Ocean Observing System is our nation's contribution to the Global Ocean Observing System (COOS), the ocean component of a worldwide effort to build a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).
