Argo floats

  • Bob Tavares, manager of the WHOI Float Lab, prepares SOLO II floats for an ARGO research mission to explore the structure of currents in the South Atlantic in 2012. (Photo by Ken Kostel, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

  • Principal components of an Argo float. (Illustration by Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

  • Argo floats sink to depths of 2,000 meters, drift with ocean currents for ten days, rise to the surface taking measurements along the way, and then transmit data back to shore via satellite. (Illustration by Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

  • A WHOI engineer observes a float's response to commands in a test tank facility. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

  • The Argo observation network, shown here as of July 2014, consists of a fleet of 3000+ profiling autonomous floats operating worldwide.

  • Argo floats, like this prototype in the Labrador Sea, can be deployed by ships, or parachuted by airplanes to seed more remote ocean regions. (Photo by George Tupper, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

  • Bob Tavares, manager of the WHOI Float Lab, prepares SOLO II floats for an ARGO research mission to explore the structure of currents in the South Atlantic in 2012. (Photo by Ken Kostel, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

  • Principal components of an Argo float. (Illustration by Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

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About ARGO

Argo is a global array of 3,000 free-drifting profiling floats that measures the temperature and salinity of the upper 2000 m of the ocean. This allows continuous monitoring of the temperature, salinity, and velocity across 2 kilometers of the upper ocean, with all data relayed to shore via satellite and made publicly available within hours after collection.

Argo page

Related mission

Specifications

Length 1.3m (4.3 feet)
Diameter 20cm (7.9 inches)
Weight 40kg (88.2 pounds)
Depth 2,000 m (6,562 feet)
Endurance 4-5 years