Building a U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS)

This paper outlines the need, the environment, and issues surrounding the development of a national U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS). It also provides an overview of a solution to the U.S. IOOS based on a Service-Oriented Architecture that is consistent with the vision of an IOOS as articulated in the publications from Ocean.US.