Site: WHOTS (WHOI Hawaii Ocean Timeseries Station)
Position: 22 º 45’ N, 158 º 00’ W
Categories: Ocean Observatory, Air-Sea Flux reference site; meteorological, physical
Safety distance for ship operations: 5 n-mi
Short description:
 1 surface mooring
 Variables measured: Surface meteorology at 1 min; subsurface T, S at 10 min from 1-155 m depth with
resolution of 5-15 m; U,V at 10 min from 10-120 m with resolution of 5-10 m.
 Start date of the timeseries, service interval: Established August 2004. Serviced annually.
Scientific rationale:
The Hawaii Ocean Timeseries (HOT) site has been occupied since 1988 as a part of the World Ocean Circulation
Experiment (WOCE) and the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS). The HOT program includes comprehensive,
interdisciplinary upper ocean observations, but does not include continuous surface forcing observations. Thus, the
primary intent of the WHOTS mooring is to provide long-term, high-quality air-sea fluxes as a coordinated part of
the HOTS program and contribute to the goals of observing heat, fresh water and chemical fluxes at a site
representative of the oligotrophic North Pacific Ocean.
Groups / P.I.s /labs /countries involved / responsible:
Drs. Robert A. Weller and Albert J. Plueddemann
Upper Ocean Processes Group , Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), USA
Dr. Roger Lukas
School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), University of Hawaii, USA
Status:
 Operating
 time horizon / long-term plans: Funded through 2006, 4 year continuation anticipated.
 funding status, source of funding: Funded through the NOAA Office of Climate Observation and the National
Science Foundation Division of Ocean Sciences.
Technology:
 moored sensors
 real-time telemetry: hourly meteorology via Argos
 SST: SBE-37 MicroCAT at ~1 m depth on mooring
 Profile measurements: Discrete sensors along mooring line for T, S. Discrete sensors plus ADCP for currents.
Data policy:
 real-time data: Public, surface meteorology (hourly)
 delayed mode data: Public, surface fluxes and subsurface data.
Data management:
 Satellite data collection system: Present, Argos; future, Iridium.
 Real-time data processing and distribution system: Meteorological data processed and distributed in NetCDF
and ASCII by WHOI/UOP. See http://uop.whoi.edu/projects/WHOTS .
 Delayed mode data processing and distribution system: Delayed mode subsurface data will be made available in
standard formats through the HOT physical oceanography web site: http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HOT_WOCE
 Metadata scheme : Met data archived in NetCDF, presently working towards compliance with OceanSITES,
Cooperative Ocean/Atmosphere Research Data Service (COARDS) and Climate and Forecast (CF) conventions
for the standardization of NetCDF files, and with the emerging Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)
framework data standard. Also participating in Marine Metadata Interoperability project
(http://marinemetadata.org ).
 Possibilities of evolution to comply with a more general JCOMM GTS scheme: Working with OceanSITES and
MBARI MMI project (http://marinemetadata.org) to evolve metadata scheme.
Societal value / Users / customers:
The long-term reference stations such as WHOTS provide essential data needed to improve our understanding of
atmosphere-ocean coupling and to properly calibrate global flux fields used in climate modeling. The WHOTS
program contributes to the overall goals of the NOAA Climate Variability and Predictability (CLIVAR) program by
improving understanding of surface fluxes and SST variability in seasonal to interannual time scales. CLIVAR goals
include extending the range and accuracy of seasonal to interannual climate prediction and understanding and
predicting the response of the ocean-atmosphere system to natural and anthropogenic climate change.
Role in the integrated global observing system:
This project directly addresses NOAAs Program Plan for Building a Sustained Ocean Observing System for Climate
– Ocean Reference Stations, in synergy with other elements (Surface Drifting Buoy Network, Ships of Opportunity,
Argo Profiling Floats, and satellites). The WHOTS mooring also serves as an extension of the HOT program to
include detailed surface forcing information.
Contact Person:
 for enquiry about addition of instrumentation or sensors to the site or for possible ancillary measurements
during cruises to the site: Robert Weller, WHOI (rweller@whoi.edu, 508-289-2789), Al Plueddemann, WHOI
(aplueddemann@whoi.edu ).
 for information about the site or data : Nan Galbraith, WHOI (ngalbraith@whoi.edu, 508-289-2789), Roger
Lukas, U. Hawaii (rlukas@hawaii.edu )
Links / Web-sites:

for Project information :

for data access :
http://uop.whoi.edu/projects/WHOTS and
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HOT_WOCE/intro.html
http://uop.whoi.edu/projects/WHOTS
Compiled by: Al Plueddemann (March 2005)