GODAE Systems in Operation

During the last 15 years, operational oceanography systems have emerged in several countries around the world. This emergence has been largely fostered by the GODAE experiment, during which each nation engaged in this activity have organised partnership and constructive competition. This trans-national coordination was very beneficial for the development of operational oceanography, leading to economies of scales and more targeted actions. Today, several systems provide routine real-time ocean analysis and forecast and/or reanalysis products. They are all based on (i) state-of-the-art primitive equation baroclinic Ocean General Circulation Model (OGCM) configurations, either global or regional (basin-scale), with resolutions that range from coarse to eddy resolving and (ii) data assimilation techniques whose complexity ranges from simple analysis correction to advanced 4D variational schemes. They assimilate altimeter sea level anomalies, remotely sensed SST such as GHRSST products and in situ profiles of T and S, including ARGO. Some systems have implemented downscaling capacities in specific regions of interest including shelf/coastal seas. Some also have implemented coupling