The current decade has seen enormous strides in our ability to observe
and monitor the oceans. Advanced telemetering in-situ sensors such as drifters,PALACE floats, autonomous vehicles, and long term moorings are providing us with the capability for intense but limited sampling of the oceans. On the other hand, satellite-borne sensors are giving us the ability to monitor continuously the surface properties over most of the global ocean. Of these, altimeters and radiometers have proven especially useful. Nevertheless, estimating and monitoring the state of the global ocean including its interior requires appealing to comprehensive ocean models assimilating these in-situ and remotely sensed data, and it is here that we will see rapid advances in
the coming decade. In this talk, I will provide examples of the hindcast/nowcast/forecast capabilities that ocean observing systems and models are providing. These include the Gulf of Mexico where monitoring and forecasting currents is of importance to the offshore industry, and the North Indian Ocean which plays an important role in the Australasian monsoons, on which depends half the world's population for survival. These examples will show that while useful
monitoring capability is on hand, vast improvements can be made by properly designed and truly integrated in-situ and remote ocean observing systems.
More specifically, there is a need for multiple precision altimeters for better spatio-temporal sampling of the global ocean. There is also a need for accurate measurement of air-sea fluxes over the global ocean with spatio-temporal sampling adequate enough to drive ocean models. Long-term in-situ observing systems are also needed to provide "ground truth" and assimilation capabilities. Particular emphasis is needed on obtaining the precipitation over the oceans and the upper ocean salinities for a better estimate and monitoring of the state of the upper layers of the global ocean, which play
a major role in determining the fluxes across the air-sea interface.