Federal Ocean Carbon Observing Landscape Analysis

This landscape analysis examined U.S. federal sustained, in situ ocean carbon observing efforts, identifying spatiotemporal gaps in the global coverage of these observations. A range of observational platforms were analyzed, including research vessels, ships of opportunity, moorings, autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs), and biogeochemical profiling floats. Despite extensive coverage by OAR alone in regions like the North Pacific, North Atlantic, Tropical Pacific, and Tropical Atlantic, notable gaps remain in southern hemisphere oceans, the Indian and Arctic Oceans, and the Laurentian Great Lakes.