GOMO, checking the pulse of the global ocean

One million observations per day. It’s the number of observations that NOAA Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing (GOMO) provides about the ocean each day for the U.S.  By any measure, it’s an impressive number. 

Placing this data point squarely on the GOMO homepage wasn’t an accident; it is there by design. It is the first thing a visitor to the website sees and it has proven to be a visual invitation to explore the many ways that “high quality global ocean observations and research improve scientific understanding and inform society about the ocean’s role in environmental change.” (Source)

“I was curious about all of the ocean observing systems we support from research vessels to buoys and the data they produce,” said Heather Heenehan, the inaugural UCAR | Cooperative Programs for the Advancement of Earth System Science (CPAESS) education and outreach specialist with GOMO. “I constructed a pretty simple spreadsheet documenting the output of all of these systems on a daily basis and now we can feel really good about sharing that number, with the knowledge that every observation matters.

Heenehan has been working with GOMO for a little over one year, but her fingerprints on the organization are evident. As a scientist and educator with expertise in marine and environmental science, she is charged with developing and supporting the mechanisms through which GOMO communicates about ocean science with its audiences of experts and non-experts alike – what it does, how it does it, and why it matters. The challenge lies in crafting information and messaging in ways that are consistent, accurate, and engaging to anyone. It includes storytelling in print, through multi-media, social media and more.  

“Like a fitness tracker monitors your pulse, GOMO – every day – is checking the pulse of the global ocean to forecast the weather, keep people safe, and ensure a healthy ocean,” notes Heenehan. 

For example, including more high-quality observations about the state of the ocean in weather forecast models results in more accurate forecasts, from hurricanes to climate prediction.

Land masses on Earth may separate us, but the fluid ocean knows no such boundaries as it circulates around our planet. The ocean’s massive surface area – covering more than 70% of the planet’s surface – combined with its depth, has proven to be challenging for researchers intent on developing technologies that provide more than surface measurements.  

In the last 30 years, specifically, ocean observing technologies have evolved into a coordinated suite of platforms that collect observational data like those managed by GOMO. “These platforms are crucial as we increase understanding about the ocean’s role in environmental change,” notes Heenehan. They include Argo floats, drifters, and moored buoys, as well as research vessels, tide gauges, and gliders. 

Taking the pulse check analogy a step further – moving it from words to images and sound – Heenehan teamed up with Maria Raykova, a digital media expert at NOAA Research Communications, and Rayne Sabatello, a communicator at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML). Maria Raykova 

Heenehan drew inspiration from the Schoolhouse Rock segment that described, in song, how a bill becomes a law. “While our video was not a musical, it helped shape my thinking about how these data points end up in places that matter to all of us,” she said. 

Again, translating GOMO science activities into terms that are digestible across audiences and based on best practices in communicating science. 

“Our timeframe for the video was very compressed, only about six weeks from start to finish,” said Heenehan. “All of us were committed to making this happen ahead of the onset of furloughs in spring 2025.”  She notes that it wasn’t a crazy idea, but pulling all of it together in such a short amount of time might have been.

With the timeline in mind, the team decided to focus their efforts on three platforms for a video of just under three minutes. It is a creative explainer about Argo floats that measure temperature and salinity at depths of up to 2,000 meters (1.2 miles). And surface drifters, as the name suggests, that are tracked by satellites and drift with ocean currents to measure temperature, currents, winds among others. And moored buoys secured to the ocean floor, that float on the surface and are outfitted with sensors that measure precipitation, wind, and more. 

Subsequent videos could include the remaining platforms – vessels, tide gauges, and gliders.

“We wanted to create a phrase – one million observations – and an analogy – a fitness tracker – that could be easily talked about and elaborated on through the video,” said Heenehan. It resonates, whether talking with international partners, policy makers, educators, students, or anyone. It shares the value of GOMO and why ocean observations are important to the health of our planet.”

The data point idea is spreading. Heenehan notes that collaborators at NOAA AOML have run with her original data point idea – inspired by Schoolhouse Rock – for their new series, “The Data Diaries” starring Dr. Dorothy ‘Dottie’ Datapoint! Two episodes have already been released and more are planned.