As their mission, the scientists of the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) “acquire and analyze global ocean and littoral data to provide specialized, operationally significant products and services for warfighters and civilian, national and international customers.” The data acquisition includes shipboard surveys by NAVOCEANO and academic research cruises, as well as routine data collected by both operational Navy and commercial ships. It includes remotely sensed data available from a variety of airborne and satellite sensors. It also includes the increasing availability of drifting and fixed-location buoy data. The analyses of these data range from the creation of historical climatologies and real-time maps of specific measured parameters to the assimilation of real-time data into ocean prediction systems for temperature, salinity, tides, waves, and currents.

For the past 172 years, NAVOCEANO, currently comprised of 1,000 military and civilian personnel, has rapidly and effectively responded to the evolutionary demands of the U.S. Navy. As the Navy prepares for the challenges of the 21st century, NAVOCEANO has shifted its focus from traditional deep-water regions to those of the littoral (shallow water). Providing support to the Joint Warfighters in all mission areas, NAVOCEANO provides a broad array of products and services, backed by one of the world's largest supercomputing centers and the world's largest oceanographic library.

NAVOCEANO’s coastal oceanographic products are primarily delivered to the fleet customer through the Warfighting Support Center (WSC). The WSC receives requests from and tailors and delivers specific products for a given customer. The WSC works cooperatively with the Oceanography Department when specific new requests require coastal oceanographic data and/or coastal predictions not already available on the NAVOCEANO Web site.