Voluntary Observing Ship (VOS) scheme
The Voluntary Observing Ship (VOS) scheme 
This is the international scheme, first developed almost 150 years ago, by which ships plying the various oceans and seas of the world are recruited for taking and transmitting meteorological observations. VOS ships make a highly important contribution to the Global Observing System (GOS) of the World Weather Watch (WWW), and increasingly to global climate studies.. Relevant standard and recommended practices and procedures are contained in Part III, Section 2.2.3 of the Manual on the Global Observing System (WMO-No.544) as well as in Chapter 6 of the (provisional) Guide to MMS (WMO-471). Port Meteorological Officers (PMOs) having maritime experience are appointed for recruiting voluntary observing ships and assisting them in their meteorological work. The list of the VOS, indicating name of ship, call sign, routes, type and instruments onboard as well as other metadata, appears in the Ship Catalogue, WMO-47. See the VOS web site for additional information.
VOSClim is an ongoing project within JCOMM's Voluntary Observing Ships' Scheme. It aims to provide a high-quality subset of marine meteorological data, with extensive associated metadata, to be available in both real-time and delayed mode to support global climate studies.
- VOSP Terms of Reference
- Task Teams of the Ship Observations Team (SOT)
- VOS Focal Points
- VOSClim Focal Points
- Port Meteorological Officers (PMO)
- VOS Scheme web site
- VOSClim web site
- List of Inmarsat LES Stations accepting Code 41
- International List of Selected, Supplementary and Auxiliary Ships (WMO No. 47)
- Quality monitoring of marine surface observations (RSMC, Exeter, UK)
- JCOMM in situ Observing Platform Support Centre (JCOMMOPS)
- Algorithms used for the computation of Dew Point Temperature using e-logbooks
- DBCP/SOT drifter donation programme in support of the VOS Scheme for developing countries (VOS-DP)
- Ship's identification masking scheme
(page last updated 23 April, 2016 )