Major contributions to the site are being provided by SURA, the Southeastern Universities Research Association; and SCOOP, the SURA Coastal Oceans Observing Program, with funds provided in part by ONR, the U.S. Office of Naval Research.

A significant bridge funding grant has been provided by NOAA's Coastal Services Center.

The MMI is international in scope. Both our Steering Committee and Technical Team have international participation and support in the Integrated and sustained Ocean Observing System (IOOS), which is the US ocean component of the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS) and the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS).

Inspiration and guidance also flows from several U.S. ocean observing/data management initiatives. The DMAC Implementation Plan of the Data Management and Communications Steering Committee outlines a metadata framework to support the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System. The other major U.S. ocean observatories initiative, the NSF OOI program, is formulating Cyberinfrastructure requirements which will inform this community.