During the Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE), seven international operational centers participated in a dedicated modeling system intercomparison exercise from February to April 2008. The objectives were: (1) to show GODAE global-ocean and basin-scale forecasting systems of different countries in routine interaction and continuous operation, (2) to assess the quality and perform scientific validation of the ocean analyses and the forecasting performance of each system, and (3) to learn ...