NOAA ship
U.S.S. Ronald H. Brown
(Credit: NOAA)

NOAA ship Ronald H. Brown returned home to Charleston today. The crew spent four months in the eastern Pacific, performing several operations, most recently servicing the TAO array of buoys that provide data for climate studies.

The Brown’s crew serviced the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean Array – The TAO array (renamed the TAO/TRITON array on 1/1/2000) consists of approximately 70 moorings in the Tropical Pacific Ocean, telemetering oceanographic and meteorological data to shore in real-time via the Argos satellite system. The array is a major component of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Observing System, the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) and the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). Support is provided primarily by the U.S. and Japan with additional contributions from France.

The crew returns a giant weather buoy after cleaning and repairing it.
(Credit: NOAA)

After talking to Chris Fairell, a NOAA physicist who took part in research aboard the Ronald H. Brown, the Post and Courier reports that the eastern Pacific tends to be covered by huge cloud canopies which have a demonstrable cooling effect on the planet. The droplets that make up those clouds form from particles that are created by gases from decomposing plankton in the ocean. The more droplets, the lower the temperature.

“In the big picture, it has some effect on the balance of climate.”