First MOCCA floats deployed

3 floats where launched in the subtropical Atlantic from FS Meteor vessel.

BSH (German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency) is a Euro-Argo ERIC partner for the EASME MOCCA project (Monitoring the Ocean Climate Change with Argo) and co-funded 10 Argo floats.

The first 3 floats were deployed in June 2016 from the FS Meteor during opportunity cruise M127 by Sven Petersen group, as part of the EU-FP7 project “Blue Mining” which is studying metal fluxes and resource potential at the Trans-Atlantic Geotraverse segment (TAG) at 26°N of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

Sven Petersen (GEOMAR) preparing the float for deployment

Launch of first MOCCA float from FS METEOR

These Argo floats will perform the core Argo mission: they will be measuring temperature and salinity, cycling every 10 days, drifting at 1000 m depth and profiling at 2000 m depth. The MOCCA fleet have a 2-way Iridium transmission capability.

The three floats deployed during FS Meteor cruise M127 aim at the maintenance of Argo array in the subtropical Atlantic. Data from this area is needed to understand decadal variability in the subtropical gyre and its relation to changes in the subpolar gyre.

First MOCCA float in the water, in the subtropical Atlantic Ocean