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The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) was founded in 1960 as a functionally autonomous body within UNESCO and now includes 124 member states. The IOC promotes marine scientific investigations and related ocean services with a view to learning more about the nature and resources of the oceans and coastal areas.
In 1985, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) initiated the Global Sea Level Observing System (GLOSS) as an international system to provide high‐quality standardized sea level data from a global network of sea level stations. Some 300 sea level stations maintained by 80 countries have been selected as a GLOSS network to observe large‐scale sea level variations of global implications and to serve as the framework for other regional and scientific programs as well as national practical applications.
This article provides a description of the GLOSS and the progress in achieving its objectives, observational network, data exchange, present and new technology for sea level observations and geodetic fixing of tide gauge benchmarks, present and planned activities for preparation of sea level products needed for scientific assessment of sea level variability and changes as well as international structure for GLOSS implementation and co‐ordination, and GLOSS interaction with the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). The list of references provides information on the material and publications used for preparation of this article. The author has served as GLOSS Technical Secretary in the Secretariat of IOC since 1985.