A group of 45 nations, territories, unions, federations, and freely associated states worldwide participate in different aspects of Argo, from purchasing and fabrication to deployment and data management. The Argo array is part of the Global Climate Observing System/Global Ocean Observing System (GCOS/GOOS). Argo is a major contributor to the World Climate Research Program's Climate Variability and Predictability Experiment (CLIVAR) project and to the Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE). These predictions may lead to better forecasting of worldwide and regional climate changes. Today, thanks to the international cooperation that made Argo possible, scientists are closer than ever to being able to accurately predict changes in ocean temperature and salinity. ![]() The Argo program initiated an era of global oceanographic monitoring with quality-controlled, real-time data availability to improve knowledge of the world’s oceans.Īs with previous ocean subsurface data, Argo data are now assimilated into ocean forecast models. And, data collected were often limited to water temperatures in the upper 750 meters of the ocean, with depth inferred from elapsed time and a fall-rate equation used in conjunction with instruments “free-falling” through the ocean. Observations outside tropical waters were often restricted to periods of favorable weather. But, the immensity of the ocean and the limited area where these vessels and platforms took measurements left large data-sparse areas such as the southern oceans. Prior to Argo, knowledge about the interior of the ocean came primarily from measurements taken by research ships, moored buoys, and commercial vessels. Images courtesy of the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Lab, NOAA (top) and Argo Home Page (bottom). By contrast, the distribution of nearly 3,000 Argo floats (below) creates a more uniform and closely spaced worldwide sampling distribution of approximately every three degrees of latitude and longitude. ![]() Relying on commercial vessels to measure ocean temperature leaves large areas of the oceans unsampled (top). However, until Argo began in 1999, the lack of both systematic worldwide observations of key factors that influence climate and the lack of accurate models that use observational data in climate forecasting made understanding and predicting these changes difficult. Today, an internatonal ocean-observing program known as "Argo" provides critical temperature and salinity data. Understanding and predicting regional and global climate changes can provide enormous benefits to both the public and private sector. ![]() Changes in the ocean and atmosphere affect all aspects of our lives, from deciding what crops to plant to where to spend a vacation.
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