Voluntary Observing Ship (VOS) Metadata

Since the 1950s, Publication No. 47 of the World Meteorological Organization has been the leading source of ship metadata available. While the VOS program uses Pub. 47 to produce its metadata listings, in recent years the informal VOS Metadata Listings (originally produced by E-SURFMAR) has been recognized as a valid source of VOS ship metadata in the interim between WMO Pub 47 releases. The data collection was built upon the existing WMO Pub 47 framework, but because of its more frequent update schedule, it has become an important and sometimes more useful source for marine station metadata. The information contained in the files includes ship identification information, ship activity dates, ship instruments types and installation heights, dates of activity, among many other metadata fields. Files produced by EUMETNET E-SURFMAR begin June 26, 2014 and continue until December 2017. At this time, production of the files was transferred to JCOMMOPS.