The Argo Program#
Welcome to the Argo Online School#
The goal of the Argo Online school (AoS) is to teach the basic foundations to use and understand the Argo data. Wellcome!
Argo is a large-scale global fleet of profiling floats that measure temperature and salinity versus pressure, in addition to six biogeochemical variables: oxygen concentration, nitrate concentration, pH, chlorophyll-a concentration, suspended particles and downwelling irradiance. Argo is the main component of the ocean observing system.
This is the actual distribution of the Argo fleet of floats.
Why study the ocean#
Let’s explain briefly in the following wideo why we need to study the ocean.
A new way to observe the ocean#
Marine environment data is a valuable asset. Quick access to reliable and accurate information is vital to address threats to the marine environment, in the development of policies and laws to protect vulnerable areas of our coasts and oceans, to understand trends, and to forecast future changes. Unfortunately, the collection, storage and access to marine data has been fragmented for many years.
Why is called Argo#
In Greek mythology, Argo was the ship in which Jason and the Argonauts set sail to search for the golden fleece. Argo floats sail the 21st century seas and Argo complements the satellite mission called Jason, that provide global sea surface height observations for climate monitoring and ocean forecasts. Data from Argo and Jason complemente each other. At the very begging of developing Argo, it was called the ARray of Geostrophic Oceanography, since the profiling floats measuring temperature and salinity, at depth, together with the Jason satellites, could provide, by using the mathematical aproach called geostrophy, ocean currents in all the oceans.
The Argo Online School 103 - The Argo Program. Introduction: A new way to observe the ocean