Ocean.US

Ocean.US, the National Office for Integrated and Sustained Ocean Observations, was established by the Congressionally-created National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP). Since its establishment in 2000, Ocean.US has catalyzed the coordinated development of an Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), the U.S. contribution to a Global Ocean Observing System and to the Global Earth Observation System of Systems.

Ocean.US is a federal interagency office supported by ten agencies:

Timeline of National and International Milestones:

U.S. Ocean Governance:

On September 20, 2004, the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy completed a thorough and expansive report,"An Ocean Blueprint for the 21st Century." On December 17, 2004, the President submitted to Congress his formal response, the U.S. Ocean Action Plan. This plan created a new ocean governance structure for the U.S., and the federal oceanographic community is currently in the process of transitioning to this new structure: