Helping Meteorologists and Oceanographers worldwide

Data Buoy Cooperation Panel (DBCP)

• © NOAA

The Data Buoy Cooperation Panel is an international programme coordinating the use of autonomous data buoys to observe atmospheric and oceanographic conditions, over ocean areas where few other measurements are taken.

The DBCP was formed in 1985, as a joint body of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. It makes up the data buoy component of the Joint WMO-IOC Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology.

The DBCP was the first Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) component to achieve its initial goal, when in 2005, it deployed its 1250th drifter near Halifax Harbor, Nova Scotia. A ceremony was held aboard the Tall Ship Silva in association with the JCOMM-II meeting to put the buoy in the water and to commemorate this historic event.

The DBCP worked over many years to design a drifting buoy to suit the needs of Oceanographers and Meteorologists. It has also provided support for the development of moored buoy arrays and ensuring that the data from those buoys was made available in real time. As such, they form an essential component of marine observing systems established as part of the World Weather Watch, the World Climate Research Programme, the Global Ocean Observing System, the Global Climate Observing System and other meteorological and oceanographic operational and research programmes.

Related links:
::  The first IOC-WMO Data Buoy Cooperation Panel In-Region Western Indian Ocean Capacity Building Workshop (More)
::  About "Data Buoy Cooperation Panel" (DBCP)

• Source:UNESCO SC
• 19-04-2010