PMEL's TAO Project has partnered with other institutions in the design and implementation of the Ocean Sustained Interdisciplinary Timeseries Environment observation System (OceanSITES), a worldwide network of deep water reference stations providing high temporal resolution data in real time for ocean research and environmental forecasting. TAO Project OceanSITES contributions include all ATLAS moorings within the TAO/TRITON, PIRATA, and RAMA arrays. In addition, embedded within these arrays are several specially instrumented reference sites for air-sea heat, moisture and momentum fluxes. Several moorings also support OceanSITES observatories for carbon and biological measurements in collaboration with PMEL's CO₂ Program, the LOCEAN CO₂ Program at the University of Paris VI, and MBARI's Biological Oceanography Group.

Michael J. McPhaden
TAO Project Director