Argo extensions. Argo’s design after 2020: OneArgo#
The initial “Core Argo” was designed to monitor temperature and salinity in the upper 2,000 meters of the open ocean. Argo’s design needs to adapt as technologies and requirements change.
A new global design is under development, which includes three elements:
Driving towards spatial completeness to include Polar sea-ice zones and marginal seas
Increasing regional resolution in key areas like the Western Boundary currents and equatorial regions
Two major new missions: BioGeoChemical (BGC) and Deep Argo missions
Deep Argo Standard floats are crushed by the intense pressure of the abyss. Deep Argo uses specialized glass or high-strength spheres to descend to 6,000 meters.
BioGeoChemical (BGC-Argo) It equips floats with sensors to measure the “health” and “breath” of the ocean. It tracks up to six key variables:
Oxygen: To monitor “dead zones” or deoxygenation.
pH: To measure ocean acidification.
Nitrate: To understand nutrient cycling.
Chlorophyll-a & Suspended Particles: To track the base of the food web (plankton).
Downwelling Irradiance: To see how light penetrates the water.
This update in Argo’s design after 2020 is denominated OneArgo
In the following notebooks we show how to use the data of the new missions: