Note from the editors
After the recent conclusion of the 24th Argo Data Management Team ( ADMT) meeting and with preparations underway for the 25th Argo Steering Team ( AST), we are thrilled to bring you the 7th BGC-Argo newsletter, our second edition for the year. Despite the ongoing challenges, our network is booming with more floats, additional measurements, and new sensors joining the ranks. To stay ahead of these exciting changes, we have formed a technological task team and are continually enhancing our website to enhance information sharing. Simultaneously, captivating research projects are surfacing, often featuring a fresh generation of researchers.
Discover all of this in our newsletter, enjoy your reading and stay with us on social networks @bgc_argo !
Hervé Claustre & Ken Johnson
co-chairs of the Biogeochemical-Argo mission
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24th Argo Data Management Team Meeting in Hobart
23-27 October 2023
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The Twenty-fourth Argo Data Management Team Meeting was hosted by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Hobart, Australia from October 23 to October 27, 2023. The BGC sessions covered significant topics including Data Assembly Center (DAC) progress in data processing and quality control, documentation updates, and data management issues. The agenda and related documents are available on the BGC-Argo website.
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BGC-Argo Array Offers New Insights
into the Southern Ocean Biological Pump
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A new paper led by Yibin Huang a postdoctoral researcher at the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research who is hosted at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, relies on data collected from 63 biogeochemical profiling floats in the Southern Ocean to analyze over 100 seasonal cycles of ocean biochemistry and quantify key aspects of the biological pump. The authors identify a significant meridional gradient in the biological production of distinct biogenic carbon pools, including dissolved organic matter, particulate organic matter, and particulate inorganic matter. The production and cycling of each carbon pool has a different impact on upper ocean carbon dioxide (CO 2) levels and the authors find that just a ~30% reduction in organic carbon production would cause the Southern Ocean to become a source of CO 2 to the atmosphere. This work emphasizes the central role of biological production in maintaining the regional ocean carbon sink and demonstrates how observations from autonomous platforms and ships can be leveraged in a cost-effective manner to study and monitor marine ecosystems at a basin scale. |
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Ocean Networks Canada Expands Argo Canada Program with 18 Deep Oxygen BGC Floats
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Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) maintains and operates a comprehensive network of ocean observing systems in the Pacific, Arctic, and Atlantic Oceans. ONC has recently expanded this network by procuring 18 Argo floats with the first of these being deployed in 2023. To complement the established core Argo Canada program, ONC invested in NKE Deep ARVOR floats, which can profile to 4000 m and carry a dissolved oxygen sensor (model: optode 4330, Aanderaa). To maximize the floats’ capabilities, the goal will be to provide new information on deep water masses and biogeochemical processes in undersampled ocean regions. Five of the eighteen floats were deployed this summer and are operational in the NE Pacific basin between latitudes of 49.57° and 53.18° N, providing the first Argo-based measurements of dissolved oxygen below 2000m in the region.
Together, the data from these floats, in particular dissolved oxygen measurements, may be used to test hypotheses regarding regional primary productivity, dynamics in the extent of the NE Pacific oxygen minimum zone, and multiple emerging impacts related to climate warming. ONC is also keen to contribute floats to new or existing arrays and is thus enthusiastic to hear from potential research partners.
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Exploring the Black Sea with BGC-Argo Floats
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DOORS is an EU research project dedicated to enhancing research support for the Black Sea. This ambitious initiative brings together the expertise of 35 institutions from the Black Sea region and from European countries.
As part of the DOORS project, two BGC-Argo floats were deployed by Euro-Argo in May 2023, in the Romanian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Nicknamed “Dolphin” (WMO 7901065) and “Siren” (WMO 4903711), these floats currently stand as the sole active measuring platforms for chlorophyll-a concentration, irradiance, and nitrate concentration. This data collection aims to provide valuable insights into climate and environmental changes occurring in one of the world's most polluted seas.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Program for Research and Innovation (H2020-BG-2014-1) under grant agreement No 101000518.
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Call for BGC Argo Educational Materials Geared Towards University Level: Share Your Resources!
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Credit photo : https://www.ocean.washington.edu
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Do you use Argo data when you teach? If you do, would you be willing to share some of your materials with Argo? It would be great to increase the number of students who learn about Argo data and one way to do that is by helping non-Argo experts do this. Therefore, we are looking to collect sample problem sets, data access labs, short lecture notes, etc. to make available.
If you have materials to share, please let :
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Establishment of the BGC Argo Technological Task Team
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A dedicated BGC-Argo Technological Task Team has been established in response to an urgent requirement expressed by the Argo Steering Team. This decision has arisen due to the challenges posed by managing six variables and the emergence of new sensor manufacturers in the market.
Co-chaired by Yui Takeshita and Edouard Leymarie, with the participation of ten other international experts, the inaugural meeting took place on October 9, 2023. The terms of reference were successfully validated, and the prioritized topics have already been documented and submitted to the Argo Data Management Team (ADMT24 presentation).
The significance of this initiative lies in its pivotal role in facilitating the effective evolution of the network within the framework of OneArgo. This will enable to boost technological innovation and support sensor diversification while ensuring the consistency and interoperability of the dataset.
Welcome to this task team, and we wish it every success!
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25th Argo Steering Team Meeting in Southampton,
18-22 March 2024
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The Twenty-fifth Argo Steering Team Meeting will be hosted by the National Oceanographic Center (NOC) 18-22 March 2024, Southampton, UK. This meeting will include a dedicated session focused on the BGC-Argo mission.
Further information about the programs and agenda will be released soon.
To stay informed, please visit the following link. |
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Focus on BGC-Argo Webpages
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Recent floats deployed
Via the home page, the recently deployed float with their main characteristic (sensors, WMO, location) are accessible (Green button at the lower left corner). This table also lists the whole deployment history over the last 21 years. This archive corresponds to the updated map.
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BGC-Argo profiles on November 2023
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Active Sensors
In addition to the number of profiles per year, the number of BGC-Argo core sensors/variables that have been or are still active for the present year is is available in the footer of the entire site. See below.
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![All ONC floats [raw values ] - Pressure Vs O2](https://mcusercontent.com/034374250c81e2cb5edfddeea/images/25f51fc2-18e4-67f3-a8c8-5bd6c361c928.jpg)
