Fifteen years of ocean observations with the global Argo array

More than 90% of the heat energy accumulation in the climate system between 1971 and the present has been in the ocean. Thus, the ocean plays a crucial role in determining the climate of the planet. Observing the oceans is problematic even under the most favourable of conditions. Historically, shipboard ocean sampling has left vast expanses, particularly in the Southern Ocean, unobserved for long periods of time. Within the past 15 years, with the advent of the global Argo array of profiling floats, it has become possible to sample the upper 2,000 m of the ocean globally and uniformly in space and time. The primary goal of Argo is to create a systematic global network of profiling floats that can be integrated…

• IF
  Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer
• SR
  Sight Research UK

  Award: noc010012
• MO
  Met Office
• UO
  University of Cape Town
• NO
  National Oceanography Centre
• NE
  Natural Environment Research Council

  Award: noc010012
• JA
  Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
• IN
  Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services
• IE
  Instituto Español de Oceanografía