Weather buoy tropical Pacific Ocean helped study the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. Moored weather buoys range from in diameter, while drifting buoys are smaller, with diameters of . Drifting buoys are the dominant form of weather buoy in sheer number, with 1250 located worldwide. Wind data from buoys has smaller error than that from ships. There are differences in the values of sea surface temperature measurements between the two platforms as well, relating to the depth of the measurement and whether or not the water is heated by the ship which measures the quantity. The first known proposal for surface weather observations at
Marine weather forecasting areas. The waters around the British Isles are divided into sea areas, also known as weather areas. Within the United States National Weather Service, the Ocean Prediction Center (OPC), established in 1995, is one of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction’s (NCEP’s) original six service centers. Until January 12, 2003, the name of the organization was the Marine Prediction Center. The OPC issues forecasts up to five days in advance for ocean areas north of 31 north latitude and west of 35 west longitude in the Atlantic, and across the northeast Pacific north of 30 north latitude and east of