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WOCE is part of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP), a scientific effort formed in 1978 that seeks to understand to what extent climate can be predicted and how it is influenced by man. The WCRP is divided into three conceptual "streams" of research concerned with climate prediction over periods of days to several weeks (Stream 1), months to years (Stream 2), and decades (Stream 3). WOCE is the ocean program for the WCRP's Stream 3.
WOCE is guided by scientists appointed to the Scientific Steering Group (SSG), established in 1983 by two major international participants in the WCRP-the Joint Scientific Committee and the Committee on Climatic Changes and the Ocean. These groups, in turn, are sponsored by the International Council of Scientific Unions, the World Meteorological Organization, and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.
The goals, objectives, scientific basis, and general field program of international WOCE are outlined in the Scientific Plan for WOCE, prepared by the SSG and issued as WCRP Publication Series No. 6, 1986. The WOCE operational program is presented in the WOCE Implementation Plan, issued as WCRP Publication Series No. 11 and 12, July 1988.
These publications and other information can be obtained from the WOCE International Project Office (see "Key International WOCE Contacts" for the address).
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