The goal of IOOS is to provide continuous data on open oceans, coastal waters, and the Great Lakes to support research and inform decision makers. IOOS in the U.S. represents a partnership of major Federal agencies and programs with marine mandates. NOAA is leading interagency and regional efforts to build IOOS. NOAA's National Coastal Data Development Center (NCDDC) supports IOOS through the following:

• Providing access to near real-time and recent in situ and remote coastal and ocean observations through the Coastal Ocean Observing System Internet Map Server (Data Display and Access)
• Facilitating metadata development, cataloging, and publishing (Data Discovery)
• Developing the Spatial Data Model and Support of OpenDAP (Interoperable Access of Data)
• Facilitating archival at NOAA's Archive Centers (Data archival and retrieval)
• Participating in Regional Association projects

International

IOOS is the U.S. contribution to an international ocean observing partnership, known as the  Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). GOOS is a global system for sustained observations of the ocean and represents the oceanographic component of an even larger system called the  Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS). GEOSS includes not only the ocean observing systems around the world, but also the land-based and atmospheric measurements.

National

U.S. IOOS Federal Partners Include:

Arctic Research Commission (ARC)	Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)	U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
U.S. Coast Guard (USCG)	Marine Mammal Commission (MMC)
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)	Minerals Management Service (MMS)
Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff (DOD)	National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Department of Energy (DOE)	National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Department of State (DOS)	National Science Foundation (NSF)
Department of Transportation (DOT)	Office of Naval Research (ONR)
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Each agency listed above is a member of the  Interagency Working Group on Ocean Observations (IWGOO), which is chaired by NOAA and vice-chaired by ONR, NSF, and NASA.

Regional

The following IOOS Regional Associations provide the primary framework to coordinate ocean observing activities:

 GCOOS Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System

 SCCOOS Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System

 CeNCOOS Central & Northern California Coastal Ocean Observing System

 NANOOS Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems

 AOOS Alaska Ocean Observing System

 PaCOOS Pacific Coast Ocean Observing System

 PacIOOS Pacific Islands Integrated Ocean Observing System

 GLOS Great Lakes Observing System

 NERACOOS Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems

 MACOORA Mid-Atlantic Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association

 SECOORA Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association

 CaRA Caribbean Regional Association