Founded in 1977, CIMAS is a partnership between NOAA and 10 academic partner universities. CIMAS' major research themes are tropical meteorology, climate change, ocean and coastal observations, ocean modeling, ecosystem modeling and forecasting, ecosystem management, and the protection and restoration of resources. CIMAS is located at the University of Miami. Projects include the Ocean Modeling and Observing System Simulation Experiments Center, the North American Multi-Model Ensemble, SUBX, an experimental weather forecast project, and OceanScope, a cruise ship-based research project.