GODAE is sponsored by
Demonstration cases
The anticipated GODAE products include improved coastal, open ocean and climate forecasts; a more responsive, efficient and sustainable system for data assembly and distribution; an improved foundation for oceanic research and enhanced partnerships between the operational and research communities; an enhanced, but cost-effective and sustainable ocean observing system. Examples:
Marine Saftey (DFO, Canada)
The search object here is a sail boat. The spread observed is from the MIN-MAX model used by the Canadian Coast Guard CANSARP software. The spread in leeway drift is determined by taking 
iterations of the model run with the direct force of the wind on the object (leeway) which pushes it at various angles from the wind direction.
Errors on currents and winds are incorporated in the expanding circle along with a prescribed growth rate of error on location. The circle represents theoretically the 100% containment of the search object. Currents and winds are made available automatically to CANSARP software. The software continuously downloads available currents and winds and pre-processes them for easy application by CANSARP. Every machine running CANSARP in Canada at the search and rescue centres is continuously updating its environmental information. From the time a Search and Rescue Coordinator initiates CANSARP with a drift object at the last known position, the solution for the search plan is less than 5 minutes including data entry by the operator. Model predictions are more reliable when the model uses Mercator surface currents instead of climate surface currents.
Fisheries ( BLUElink, Australia)
This example results from a project that used the Bluelink ocean model, coupled with basic biological information on the larvae of rock lobsters (spawning times, development rates at various temperatures, and daily cycle of vertical position) to simulate the dispersal of many individual larvae, including ones spawned from Western Australia to Tasmania. 
The example Figure focuses on the central region of the population and uses the larval dispersal simulation to suggest answers to the two fundamental riddles that confront fisheries managers: "where do the recruits to region X come from, i.e. where is the parent stock for the region we exploit?" and "where do the progeny of the adults in region X go, i.e. what other regions of the fishery depend on this one for their recruits?".
(The red box means "larval tracks that stop here", while the green box means "larval tracks that start here").
It can not be pretended that the model is even close to perfect, but in the absence of quantitative calculations such as these, managers have had almost no basis for estimating the rates of inter-dependence of various 'sub-stocks' of managed fisheries, leading, in cases, to localised extinctions and regional unemployment in traditional industries.
Climate and seasonal forecasting ( Japan)
The Kuroshio current is the second largest ocean current found in the western Pacific south of Japan. It exhibits a remarkable bimodal feature: the large meander (LM) and the non-large meander paths. In 2004 summer, an LM event occurred for the first time in 13 years, and the LM path was maintained for about one year. The formation process of the LM event in 2004 was examined using a regional ocean data assimilation and prediction system MOVE/MRI.COM-WNP), which successfully reproduced and predicted the LM event in 2004.
Examining the formation process of small meander southeast of Kyushu is a key issue for understanding a cause of the LM event. A strong anti-cyclonic eddy propagated from the east colliding with the Kuroshio east of Taiwan in September 2003. 
As a result of the collision and subsequent frontal waves in the western edge of the Kuroshio, high potential vorticity (PV) water was carried out from the continental shelf and advected along the Kuroshio in the East China Sea. The high-PV water was supplied to southeast of the Kyushu through the Tokara Strait. When it passed through the Tokara Strait, positive vorticity was obtained by stretching the water column. As a result, the small meander southeast of the Kyushu was generated and it grew up into the LM as a result of baroclinic instability.
The forecast was front-page news and praised by fisheries agencies.
Winter weather 2005 forecast (UK)
In the summer of 2005 the Met Office issued a forecast for the coming winter to be colder than average. The forecast was based upon statistical and dynamical methods. Cold winter conditions were associated with the re-emergence of a tripole pattern of SST anomalies in the North Atlantic. Because this anomaly was not visible on the surface during summer and early autumn the FOAM and OSTIA outputs were used to monitor for the presence of such anomalies at 60-90 m depth. Subsurface FOAM anomalies suggested that the tripole pattern remained subsurface and OSTIA SST anomalies identified the re-emergence of the tripole pattern in late autumn.
Marine Pollution - The Prestige case (France)
In November 2002 the Prestige, an Bahamas flagged oil tanker broke down in severe weather off the spanish coast (Cape Finisterre) and after breaking in half, it sank about a week later, taking down with it 50,000 - 60,000 tons of heavy duty oil. Initial oils spill and delayed pollution from leakage from the hull threatened the marine coastal ecosystems. A 3D ocean analysis and forecast of the ocean state (temperature, currents) has helped to monitor the oil spill drift and to facilitate protective measures.
Further information can be obtained from Mercator-Ocean
(Last Updated: 14-02-2008)