Preparing the New Phase of Argo: Scientific Achievements of the NAOS Project

• Published in: Frontiers in Marine Science
• Main Authors: Le Traon, Pierre-Yves, d'Ortenzio, Fabrizio, Babin, Marcel, Leymarie, Edouard, Marec, Claudie, Pouliquen, Sylvie, Thierry, Virginie, Cabanes, Cecile, Claustre, Hervé, Desbruyères, Damien, Lacour, Leo, Lagunas, Jose-Luis, Maze, Guillaume, Mercier, Herle, Penkerc’h, Christophe, Poffa, Noe, Poteau, Antoine, Prieur, Louis, Racapé, Virginie, Randelhoff, Achim, Rehm, Eric, Schmechtig, Catherine Marie, Taillandier, Vincent, Wagener, Thibaut, Xing, Xiaogang
• Other Authors: Mercator Océan, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Service hydrographique et océanographique de la Marine-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France, 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)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-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), Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), 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)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Observatoire des sciences de l'univers Ecce Terra Paris (OSU ECCE TERRA), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut méditerranéen d'océanologie (MIO), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Toulon (UTLN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), State Key Laboratory of Satellite Ocean Environment Dynamics (SOED), State Oceanic Administration (SOA)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: profiling floats; deep ocean; biogeochemistry; Mediterranean Sea; Arctic; Atlantic; Argo; [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography; Arctic Ocean; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02976591; https://hal.science/hal-02976591/document; https://hal.science/hal-02976591/file/fmars-07-577408.pdf; https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.577408

International audience Argo, the international array of profiling floats, 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 the French "Investissements d'Avenir" Equipex program. The objectives of NAOS were to consolidate the French contribution to Argo's core mission (global temperature and salinity measurements down to 2000 m), and also 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 how NAOS has met its objectives. The project significantly boosted France's contribution to Argo's core mission by deploying more than 100 NAOS standard Argo profiling floats. In addition, NAOS deployed new-generation floats as part of three scientific experiments: biogeochemical floats in the Mediterranean Sea, biogeochemical floats in the Arctic Ocean, and deep floats with oxygen sensors in the North Atlantic. The experiment in the Mediterranean Sea, launched in 2012, implemented and maintained a network of BGC-Argo floats at basin scale for the first time. The 32 BGC-Argo floats deployed and about 4000 BGC profiles collected have vastly improved characterization of the biogeochemical and ecosystem dynamics of the Mediterranean. Meanwhile, experiments in the Arctic and in the North Atlantic, starting in 2015 and deploying 20 Arctic BGC floats and 23 deep floats, have provided unique observations on biogeochemical cycles in the Arctic and deep-water masses, as well as ocean circulation variability in the North Atlantic. NAOS has therefore paved the way to the new operational phase of the Argo program in France that includes BGC and Deep Argo extensions. The objectives and characteristics of this new phase of Argo-France are discussed in the conclusion.