Preparing the New Phase of Argo: Technological Developments on Profiling Floats in the NAOS Project

• Published in: Frontiers in Marine Science
• Main Authors: André, Xavier, Le Traon, Pierre-Yves, Le Reste, Serge, Dutreuil, Vincent, Leymarie, Edouard, Malardé, Damien, Marec, Claudie, Sagot, Jérôme, Amice, Martin, Babin, Marcel, Claustre, Hervé, David, Arnaud, D'Ortenzio, Fabrizio, Kolodziejczyk, Nicolas, Lagunas, José, Le Menn, Marc, Moreau, Bertrand, Nogré, David, Penkerc'h, Christophe, Poteau, Antoine, Renaut, Corentin, Schaeffer, Christophe, Taillandier, Vincent, Thierry, Virginie
• Other Authors: Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer - Brest (IFREMER Centre de Bretagne), Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), Mercator Océan, Société Civile CNRS Ifremer IRD Météo-France SHOM, Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire des Environnements Continentaux (LIEC), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Terre et Environnement de Lorraine (OTELo), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Lorraine (UL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Lorraine (UL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Ecologie et Environnement (INEE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire d'océanographie de Villefranche (LOV), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de la Mer de Villefranche (IMEV), Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Takuvik Joint International Laboratory ULAVAL-CNRS, Université Laval Québec (ULaval)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer (IUEM), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Service Hydrographique et Océanographique de la Marine (SHOM), Ministère de la Défense
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: ocean; Argo; global observing system; profiling float; deep; biogeochemistry; under-ice; float technology; [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography; Arctic
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02998043; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02998043/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02998043/file/Andr%C3%A9%20et%20al.%20-%202020%20-%20Preparing%20the%20New%20Phase%20of%20Argo%20Technological%20Dev.pdf; https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.577446

International audience The international array of profiling floats known as Argo is a major component of the global ocean-and climate-observing system. In 2010, the NAOS (Novel Argo Observing System) project was selected as part of France's Equipex "Investissement d'Avenir" program. The objectives of NAOS were to consolidate the French contribution to the Argo core mission (global temperature and salinity measurements down to 2,000 m) as well as to develop the future generation of French Argo profiling floats and prepare the next phase of the Argo program with an extension to the deep ocean (Deep-Argo), biogeochemistry (BGC-Argo) and polar seas. This paper summarizes the main technological advances and at-sea validations carried out as part of NAOS: development of a deep (4,000 m) float, a new BGC float for Research & Development (R&D) applications, and a BGC float for deployments in Arctic areas, assessment of a new density and Absolute Salinity optical sensor, improvement of the reliability of the standard Argo float, and upgraded satellite-transmission performance. French profiling floats developed in this way are now operational and among the most deployed worldwide, and the density sensor is the most promising of its kind for profiling floats applications.