FY 1997

World Wide Web access to data from the TAO buoy network expanded to include sensor time series

McClurg, D.C., W.H. Zhu, S. Zube, N.N. Soreide, and M.J. McPhaden

In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Interactive Information and Processing Systems for Meteorology, Oceanography and Hydrology, AMS, Long Beach, CA, 2–7 February 1997, 178–181 (1997)

The TAO array consists of approximately 70 ATLAS and current meter moorings in the Tropical Pacific Ocean, telemetering oceanographic and meteorological data in real time via the Argos satellite system. It is a major component of the global climate monitoring system, and is supported by an international consortium, involving cooperation between the United States, France, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. TAO data are readily available via the World Wide Web, Unix/X-windows/Internet, and anonymous FTP. The present distribution and display of the TAO buoy data includes both real-time and historical data from the moorings, and multiple two-dimensional gridded fields that have been created from the buoy measurements. Web pages include TAO project information and TAO data access. Web access is being expanded to include additional time series data, such as rainfall, salinity, short wave radiometry, and bio-optical characteristics, from sensors that have been added to TAO moorings for specialized studies. The large numbers of individual time series from the many sensors on board the buoy require selection of these time series from a back-end data-base from which the user can make dynamically generated plots and listings.