Consistent, standardized measurement of a wide range of high-resolution atmospheric measurements over the world’s oceans, coupled with simultaneous oceanographic measurements, is crucial for developing improved climate models, which are currently constrained by data gaps – especially over the Arctic Ocean, yet ship-certified atmospheric observation facilities are few and are limited in their availability.

To expand this capacity, Global Oceans and a developing AOO Science Consortium of academic institutions, government agencies, and intergovernmental bodies are collaborating to design, fund, and build a new multi-modular facility called the Atmospheric Ocean Observatory (AOO) for global deployment on Arctic icebreaking vessels. The AOO will be a nongovernmental, nonprofit facility to be funded through private philanthropy and operated on behalf of the global science community.

This new initiative will enable more flexible, frequent, and globally collaborative atmospheric and coupled oceanographic measurements worldwide, with a particular focus in two areas: mobilization in the Arctic Ocean with an initial multi-module facility (AOO-1) to generate high-resolution data for improving global climate models; and a second identical future facility (AOO-2) to be deployed in the Indian Ocean/Indo-Pacific region to support improved modeling of poorly understood annual Asian Monsoons, which impact nearly a third of the global population.

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