NOAA's Tropical Atmosphere Ocean Project

Realtime El Nino and La Nina data from the tropical Pacific Ocean is provided by the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean / Triangle Trans-Ocean buoy network (TAO/TRITON) of moored ocean buoys. The TAO/TRITON array is a major component of the Global Climate Observation System, designed to improve detection, understanding, and prediction of El Nino.The TAO/TRITON array of moored buoys spans the tropical Pacific from 137E to 95W and from 8S to 8N. Moorings within the array measure surface meteorological and upper-ocean parameters and transmit data in realtime to shore via Service Argos. The array is part of the in-situ measurement portion of the Tropical Ocean-Global Atmosphere (TOGA) program, a 10-year (1985-1994) study of climate variability on seasonal to interannual time scales.TAO began in 1985 as regional-scale meridional arrays spanning the Equator at 110W and 165E and has steadily expanded to its present size of approximately 70 moorings. Moorings are typically separated by 2-3 degrees of latitude and 10-15 degrees of longitude. The majority of TAO moorings are ATLAS (Autonomous Temperature Line Acquisition System) moorings which measure surface wind, air temperature, relative humidity, sea-surface temperature, subsurface temperature and pressure. At a few sites along the Equator, current meter moorings are deployed to measure and transmit the same surface parameters, as well as subsurface currents.In October 1999, responsibility for moorings along and to the west of 156E was assumed by the Japan Marine Science and Technology Center (JAMSTEC) which has deployed Triangle Trans-Ocean Buoy Network (TRITON) buoys at those locations. Data from both ATLAS and TRITON moorings are merged in a common data base and available from both PMEL (Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory) and JAMSTEC.The TAO/TRITON array and TAO Project are described at: http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/