WOCE

The World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) was an international research program conducted in the late 1980s to the late 1990s with the goal of understanding the global ocean’s large-scale circulation and its role in climate. It aimed to produce a comprehensive, high-quality data set of ocean properties and to reveal how water masses move, mix, and transport heat, salt, carbon, and other tracers across the world’s oceans.

Implementation and scope: WOCE brought together scientists from dozens of countries under the coordination of the WOCE International Project Office. The program deployed ship-based hydrographic surveys across major ocean basins, using CTD instruments and water bottles, complemented by autonomous probes such as XBTs and moorings. Observations covered temperature, salinity, currents, nutrients, oxygen, and other chemical and physical properties, with the data organized on a global grid to enable basin-scale synthesis and cross-basin comparisons. Data were archived and shared through standardized data centers and dissemination channels to ensure broad access for the scientific community.

Outcomes and impact: WOCE produced the first broad, global view of the ocean’s three-dimensional structure and time-mean circulation, improving estimates of the thermohaline circulation and its pathways. The results informed climate research by clarifying how the ocean transports heat and carbon, and they contributed to the development of climate observing systems such as GOOS and CLIVAR. The program also generated extensive data products, maps, and hydrographic atlases that remain foundational resources for oceanography and climate science.

Legacy: WOCE established a durable framework for international collaboration, data standards, and open data sharing in oceanography. Its data and findings underpin ongoing global ocean observing initiatives and continue to influence climate modelling and interpretation of ocean variability.