The Shipboard Automated Meteorological and Oceanographic System (SAMOS) initiative aims to improve the quality of meteorological and near-surface oceanographic observations collected in-situ on research vessels (R/Vs) and select volunteer observing ships (VOS).

Scientific objectives of SAMOS include:

• Creating quality estimates of the heat, moisture, momentum, and radiation fluxes at the air-sea interface
• Improving our understanding of the biases and uncertainties in global air-sea fluxes
• Benchmarking new satellite and model products
• Providing high quality observations to support modeling activities (e.g., reanalysis) and global climate programs

To achieve the science objective, the SAMOS initiative seeks to:

• Improve access to quality assured SAMOS data for scientific and operational users by providing free and open access to data and metadata
• Expand availability of SAMOS observations collected in remote ocean regions (e.g., Southern Ocean)
• Improve the accuracy and calibration of SAMOS measurements
• Provide standards for data and metadata collected on SAMOS equipped vessel
• Ensure routine archival of SAMOS data at world data centers
• Develop documentation and training materials for use by data collectors and the user community
• Support comparison studies between in-situ platforms (e.g., R/Vs, VOS, buoys)
• Develop partnerships in the international marine community