THE DATA WE NEED FOR THE OCEAN WE WANT TO PREDICT: A BRAZILIAN PERSPECTIVE

A Predicted Ocean is one of the UN Ocean Decade goals. Ocean observations and numerical simulations of the ocean circulation are at the heart of this outcome. Numerical models are used to understand the present and predict future ocean states, but also the human impact on it, among many other uses. However, its results are only a representation of reality, and we need to validate the numerical model outputs with observational data before using them. Considering its coast extension and the marine economic importance, Brazil does not collect enough physical ocean data and we have only a few real-time observation systems. Unfortunately, due to the COVID and the current national science budget crisis, the number of real-time observations has been further reduced. From a positive perspective, I must believe that this situation will change. We need to be prepared to convince the stakeholders of the importance of observing systems to our society and secure a budget in that regard. This is the way to better predict our oceans. Keywords: ocean modeling, observation systems, Ocean Decade, numerical model validation.