1. Global Ocean Observing System & Argo by JCOMMOPS www. jcommops
Global Ocean Observing System & Argo by JCOMMOPS

2. The Ocean
The (Ocean) Planet is in age of increasing human impact and vulnerability.
« The sustainability of the Planet depends on the health of the Ocean » I. Bokova, UNESCO DG

3. Ocean is at the heart of climate machine
(60% oxygen)
90 % of commercial transits via the Ocean
¾ of human population lives in the coastal zone
(60% proteins)

4. Ocean is changing… take-home messages
1) CO2 is augumenting.
2) Green-house gases are increasing.
3) Earth is warming and more than 90% of the heat increase is taking place
in the oceans.
4) Ocean heat content is steadily increasing.
5) Global sea-level is rising rapidly (warm water so that it will expand).
6) The pH of seawater is declining, i.e. the ocean is becoming more acid.
A pteropod shell dissolves over 45 days in conditions expected to be
reached by the year 2100.
93%

5. Why Ocean Observations?
Predict the impact of global/local changes on coastal communities and nations
Improve safety and efficiency of maritime operations
Mitigate effects of hazards
Guide international action and optimize government’s policies
Shape economic strategies
Enable sustained used of ocean resources
Reduce public health risks, protect ecosystems
Prepare high quality and multi-disciplinary datasets for use by future generations
Healthy Ocean = Healthy blue economy

6. History of the Ocean Observations
There have been several attempts to do global surveys of the oceans:
Challenger British survey ( ) was one

7. History of the Ocean Observations
1960s: progresses in the electronic and miniaturisation led to progresses in the ocean observations.
Before the 1980s, most of ocean observations were made via research vessels (but…specific regional campaigns, expensive, seasonal bias).
Advent of satellite measurements and in-situ moored/floating instruments led to enormous improvements in our understanding of the ocean.
Socio-economic benefits of global ocean observations were formally recognized in 1990 (GOOS establishment).

8. The very best attempt was in the 1990-1997 called WOCE – World Ocean Circulation Experiment.
This was a huge effort, cost a lot of money, and took way too long, we need to survey the ocean cheaper and much faster.

9. Argo was proposed and approved in 1999
Unprecedented international cooperation in history of oceanography
Free and unrestricted data access
Initial Target: 3000 floats (P, T, S profiles m)
Target achieved in 2007

10. But not only Argo…
Global observing programmes are funded and implemented nationally
International and technical coordination is required between all actors

11. JCOMMOPS, 2001 IOC/WMO Operational Centre (Brest/France)
International/intergovernmental context, transparency
Monitor ( units), coordinate and harmonize practices of sustained international ocean observing programmes
Measure the performance vs objectives

12. Argo as it is in February 2016

13. What does an Argo float do?
Operates 5-10 years,
15k$ / base unit
profiles/year
(1 million achieved in 2012)

14. Argo is now the dominant ocean dataset
WOCE: 8000 profiles / 7 years
Argo: / month …
(a) 1.5 million profiles collected between January 1999 and October 2015.
(b) The most complete assembly of all previous historical efforts.
Density computed as the total number of samples in each
1°lat x 1°lon square.
The analysis only includes profiles that sample both temperature and salinity to a depth of 1000m or deeper.

15. 30 Participating countries
Argo Contributions
30 Participating countries
Note that last point of the graph is the status of GDACs calculated between 01/06/2015 and 01/07/2015

16. Argo applications
Ocean research: circulation/storage heat, climate, rainfall/drought patterns, variability
Operational oceanography (with satellite data), climate prediction: seasons, years, decades
Ideal vector for education and outreach.

17. Argo can monitor global climate change
Global [0;2000m] ocean heat content seen by Argo .
Small signal detected in only 8 years. Remarkable, due to uniform coverage and high quality of the dataset.

18. Argo trajectories give unprecedented details of ocean circulation at 1000m
Ollitrault and Colin De Verdiere, 2014

19. Argo’s future (6000 units ?) Global (space/regional)
Full depth: ocean warming below 2000m too (SO)!
Multidisciplinary (Essential Ocean/Climate Variables)
+1000
3000
+1000
+1000
+1000

20. How do we deploy Argo floats?
Research vessels, military vessels, container ships, racing yachts, fishing vessels, aircraft
Challenge: 1000 units / year ( surface drifters)

21. Civil Society collaboration

22. Argo will continue to take the pulses of the ocean for many decades Thanks!