Addressing ocean and coastal issues at the West Coast scale through regional ocean observing system collaboration

The U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (U.S. IOOS®) is a network of eleven regional ocean observing systems coordinating observations of the nation's oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes. Three of these regional systems span the continental U.S. West Coast: the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System (SCCOOS), the Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System (CeNCOOS), and the Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS) (Figure 1). Each regional coastal ocean observing system (RCOOS) provides key observations, data, and information products that meet unique place-based needs through collaborations between academic institutions, state, tribal and federal agencies, private industry, and non-profit organizations.