GOALS (Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System) for Predicting Seasonal-to-Interannual Climate

This book lays out a science plan for a major, international, 15-year research program. The past 10 years have seen significant progress in studies of short-term climate variations, in particular for the region of the tropical Pacific Ocean and the El Nino/Southern Oscillation phenomenon. Some forecast skill with lead times as long as a year in advance has already been developed and put to use. The GOALS program plans to capitalize on this progress by expanding efforts on observations and seasonal-to-interannual predictions to the remainder of the tropics and to higher latitudes.Table of ContentsFRONT MATTEREXECUTIVE SUMMARY1 INTRODUCTION2 THE GOALS PROGRAM AND ITS SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES3 LARGE-SCALE INTERACTIONS AMONG THE UPPER OCEAN, ATMOSPHERE, AND LAND4 ELEMENTS AND GROWTH OF THE PROGRAM5 DATA MANAGEMENT6 RELATIONSHIP OF GOALS TO OTHER PROGRAMS7 GOALS PROGRAM MANAGEMENTAPPENDICESAPPENDIX A: PRESENT STATUS OF SHORT TERM CLIMATE PREDICTIONAPPENDIX B: THE 1993 GOALS STUDY CONFERENCEAPPENDIX C: ACRONYMS AND OTHER INITIALSREFERENCES