page_title: National Oceanography Centre
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: National Oceanography Centre / History
caption_attribution_description: National Oceanography Centre Southampton as seen from the water side English: National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK Português: Centro Nacional de Oceanografia, Southampton, Reino Unido
context_page_description: The National Oceanography Centre is a marine science research and technology institution based on two sites in Southampton and Liverpool, United Kingdom. It is the UK’s largest institution for integrated sea level science, coastal and deep ocean research and technology development.
  From 1 November 2019 the NOC began operating as an independent self-governing organisation – a charitable company limited by guarantee.
  The centre was set up to work in close partnership with institutions across the UK marine science community to address key science challenges, including sea level change, the oceans’ role in climate change, predicting and simulating the behaviour of the oceans through computer modelling, the future of the Arctic Ocean and long-term monitoring technologies.
context_section_description: The National Oceanography Centre’s waterfront headquarters were opened in 1996 by the Duke of Edinburgh, as the Southampton Oceanography Centre. It brought together the University of Southampton's departments of oceanography and geology with the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences, formerly based in Wormley, Surrey, and Research Vessel Services, formerly based in Barry Docks, South Wales.
  It was renamed the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton in 2005, again by the Duke of Edinburgh, its new name reflecting its prominence in ocean and earth sciences within the UK.
  Until April 2010, the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton was jointly owned by the University of Southampton and the Natural Environment Research Council.  The term National Oceanography Centre, Southampton continues to be used to describe the collaborative relationship at the waterfront campus.
  The National Oceanography Centre’s Liverpool site, on the University of Liverpool campus, was formerly the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory and specialises in tidal and sea level science.  It hosts the National Tidal and Sea Level Facility, the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level and the British Oceanographic Data Centre. It was formerly housed at the Bidston Observatory on the Wirral before moving to the University of Liverpool campus in 2004.
  On 1 November 2019 the NOC began operating as an independent self-governing organisation – a charitable company limited by guarantee.
caption: NOC Southampton
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