Prediction and Research Moored Array in the Atlantic

The northern tropical Atlantic is also a major formation area for hurricanes affecting the West Indies and the United States.

The principal agencies involved are NOAA in the United States, IRD and Météo-France of France plus INPE and DHN from Brazil.

[3] Dedicated hydrographic cruises and annual buoy maintenance voyages are also undertaken under the auspices of the PIRATA project.

[1] Daily mean observations from the ATLAS buoys are received in near real time via both the Argos System and Brazilian satellites.

The data is processed by the TAO Project Office of NOAA and also placed on the Global Telecommunications System for real time distribution to weather centres and other users.