Every year, the Office of Climate Observations (OCO) at OGP/NOAA publishes an Annual Report on the State of the Ocean and the Ocean Observing System for Climate. This Annual Report provides an overview of the ocean, its role in climate, and the connections between ocean observations and economic and societal impact, based on the observations collected and analysis performed as part of the NOAA Ocean Observing System.
AOML contributes to the OCO's report through its varied data collection efforts, and as of 2005, through Quarterly Reports on certain key ocean state variables:
Global Heat Storage: Heat stored in the upper ocean estimated using data from ARGO profiling floats, Volunteer Observing Ship (VOS) program, expendable bathythermograph (XBT) lines, and satellite altimetry.
Global Surface Currents: In situ data coverage, sufficiency and error estimates using 15 meter drogued drifting buoys and moored current meters.
Atlantic Meridional Heat Transport: Ocean heat transport by ocean currents, estimated using data from expendable bathythermograph (XBT) lines.