TY - JOUR

T1 - On the Future of Argo: A Global, Full-Depth, Multi-Disciplinary Array

AU - Roemmich, Dean

AU - Alford, Matthew H.

AU - Claustre, Hervé

AU - Johnson, Kenneth

AU - King, Brian

AU - Moum, James

AU - Oke, Peter

AU - Owens, W. Brechner

AU - Pouliquen, Sylvie

AU - Purkey, Sarah

AU - Scanderbeg, Megan

AU - Suga, Toshio

AU - Wijffels, Susan

AU - Zilberman, Nathalie

AU - Bakker, Dorothee

AU - Baringer, Molly

AU - Belbeoch, Mathieu

AU - Bittig, Henry C.

AU - Boss, Emmanuel

AU - Calil, Paulo

AU - Carse, Fiona

AU - Carval, Thierry

AU - Chai, Fei

AU - Conchubhair, Diarmuid Ó.

AU - d’Ortenzio, Fabrizio

AU - Dall’Olmo, Giorgio

AU - Desbruyeres, Damien

AU - Fennel, Katja

AU - Fer, Ilker

AU - Ferrari, Raffaele

AU - Forget, Gael

AU - Freeland, Howard

AU - Fujiki, Tetsuichi

AU - Gehlen, Marion

AU - Greenan, Blair

AU - Hallberg, Robert

AU - Hibiya, Toshiyuki

AU - Hosoda, Shigeki

AU - Jayne, Steven

AU - Jochum, Markus

AU - Johnson, Gregory C.

AU - Kang, KiRyong

AU - Kolodziejczyk, Nicolas

AU - Körtzinger, Arne

AU - Traon, Pierre-Yves Le

AU - Lenn, Yueng-Djern

AU - Maze, Guillaume

AU - Mork, Kjell Arne

AU - Morris, Tamaryn

AU - Nagai, Takeyoshi

AU - Nash, Jonathan

AU - Garabato, Alberto Naveira

AU - Olsen, Are

AU - Pattabhi, Rama Rao

AU - Prakash, Satya

AU - Riser, Stephen

AU - Schmechtig, Catherine

AU - Schmid, Claudia

AU - Shroyer, Emily

AU - Sterl, Andreas

AU - Sutton, Philip

AU - Talley, Lynne

AU - Tanhua, Toste

AU - Thierry, Virginie

AU - Thomalla, Sandy

AU - Toole, John

AU - Troisi, Ariel

AU - Trull, Thomas W.

AU - Turton, Jon

AU - Velez-Belchi, Pedro Joaquin

AU - Walczowski, Waldemar

AU - Wang, Haili

AU - Wanninkhof, Rik

AU - Waterhouse, Amy F.

AU - Waterman, Stephanie

AU - Watson, Andrew

AU - Wilson, Cara

AU - Wong, Annie P. S.

AU - Xu, Jianping

AU - Yasuda, Ichiro

N1 - Argo data were collected and made freely available by the International Argo Project and the national programs that contribute to it (http://www.argo.ucsd.edu, http://argo.jcommops.org, http://doi.org/10.17882/42182). The authors gratefully acknowledge support from their respective Argo National Programs and/or national agencies. This is the PMEL Contribution Number 4863. The Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT) is an international effort by numerous researchers and funding agencies to deliver a uniformly quality-controlled surface ocean CO2 database. BGC Argo data were collected and made freely available by the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling (SOCCOM) Project funded by the NationalScience Foundation, Division of Polar Programs (NSF PLR -1425989), supplemented by both the NOAA and NASA. The authors would also like to thank the US Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry (US-OCB) for their support to BGC Argo in the United States.

PY - 2019/8/2

Y1 - 2019/8/2

N2 - The Argo Program has been implemented and sustained for almost two decades, as a global array of about 4000 profiling floats. Argo provides continuous observations of ocean temperature and salinity versus pressure, from the sea surface to 2000 dbar. The successful installation of the Argo array and its innovative data management system arose opportunistically from the combination of great scientific need and technological innovation. Through the data system, Argo provides fundamental physical observations with broad societally-valuable applications, built on the cost-efficient and robust technologies of autonomous profiling floats. Following recent advances in platform and sensor technologies, even greater opportunity exists now than 20 years ago to (i) improve Argo’s global coverage and value beyond the original design, (ii) extend Argo to span the full ocean depth, (iii) add biogeochemical sensors for improved understanding of oceanic cycles of carbon, nutrients, and ecosystems, and (iv) consider experimental sensors that might be included in the future, for example to document the spatial and temporal patterns of ocean mixing. For Core Argo and each of these enhancements, the past, present, and future progression along a path from experimental deployments to regional pilot arrays to global implementation is described. The objective is to create a fully global, top-to-bottom, dynamically complete, and multidisciplinary Argo Program that will integrate seamlessly with satellite and with other in situ elements of the Global Ocean Observing System (Legler et al., 2015). The integrated system will deliver operational reanalysis and forecasting capability, and assessment of the state and variability of the climate system with respect to physical, biogeochemical, and ecosystems parameters. It will enable basic research of unprecedented breadth and magnitude, and a wealth of ocean-education and outreach opportunities.

AB - The Argo Program has been implemented and sustained for almost two decades, as a global array of about 4000 profiling floats. Argo provides continuous observations of ocean temperature and salinity versus pressure, from the sea surface to 2000 dbar. The successful installation of the Argo array and its innovative data management system arose opportunistically from the combination of great scientific need and technological innovation. Through the data system, Argo provides fundamental physical observations with broad societally-valuable applications, built on the cost-efficient and robust technologies of autonomous profiling floats. Following recent advances in platform and sensor technologies, even greater opportunity exists now than 20 years ago to (i) improve Argo’s global coverage and value beyond the original design, (ii) extend Argo to span the full ocean depth, (iii) add biogeochemical sensors for improved understanding of oceanic cycles of carbon, nutrients, and ecosystems, and (iv) consider experimental sensors that might be included in the future, for example to document the spatial and temporal patterns of ocean mixing. For Core Argo and each of these enhancements, the past, present, and future progression along a path from experimental deployments to regional pilot arrays to global implementation is described. The objective is to create a fully global, top-to-bottom, dynamically complete, and multidisciplinary Argo Program that will integrate seamlessly with satellite and with other in situ elements of the Global Ocean Observing System (Legler et al., 2015). The integrated system will deliver operational reanalysis and forecasting capability, and assessment of the state and variability of the climate system with respect to physical, biogeochemical, and ecosystems parameters. It will enable basic research of unprecedented breadth and magnitude, and a wealth of ocean-education and outreach opportunities.

U2 - 10.3389/fmars.2019.00439

DO - 10.3389/fmars.2019.00439

M3 - Article

VL - 6

JO - Frontiers in Marine Science

JF - Frontiers in Marine Science

SN - 2296-7745

IS - 439

ER -