NSF provides partial support for the Ocean.US Office. The National Office for Sustained and Integrated Ocean Observations (Ocean.US) was formally established under the auspices of the National Ocean Partnership Program (NOPP) in October 2000 by an Interagency Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Navy, the U.S. Department of Commerce - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and U.S. Department of Interior - Minerals Management Service (MMS). Since then, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), U.S Coast Guard, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have also signed the MOA to support Ocean.US.
The Ocean.US office performs the following functions: 1. develops and maintains a long-range planning document for an Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS); 2. ensures integration of the elements of the IOOS; 3. serves as the focal point to coordinate IOOS activities with the NOPP Interagency Working Group, Ocean Research Advisory Program (ORAP), the Federal Oceanographic Facilities Council (FOFC), as well as other Federal and non-Federal partners and the international community; 4. reports regularly to the Executive Committee of the National Ocean Research Leadership Council (NORLC) for guidance and the IWG for coordination; 5. recommends enhancements to existing elements of the IOOS, new projects, need for research and development, identification of system components suitable to transition from research to operations; and 6. carries out all other tasks as directed by the NORLC.
