Argo at PMEL: Intro

http://floats.pmel.noaa.gov

•Active float positions as of 3 July 2008

•red dots = positions of active PMEL floats
•green dots = other US floats

•International program observing the global oceans

•Fleet of 3000 robotic floats each sampling every 10 days
•Commenced in 2000 and reached 3000-float target November 2007
•3° x 3° array -> 100,000 2-km depth profiles/year of public real-time data
•Year-round climate-quality temperature, salinity, and pressure data
•International effort: 23 countries providing floats
•US consortium provides half the global effort
•Gov’t agencies (PMEL, AOML, FNMOC), Academic Institutions (SIO, UW, WHOI), and
instrument manufacturers (Teledyne WRC, SeaBird Electronics)
•End-to-end (Float providers involved in instrumentation development, preparation &
testing, deployment, scientific quality control, and analysis)
 Argo at PMEL: Linkages
NOAA Research Plan and Strategic Plan

•NOAA Strategic Plan - Performance Objective:

Describe and understand the state of the climate
system through integrated observations, analysis,
and data stewardship.

•NOAA Research Plan - Research Area:

Develop an integrated global observation and data
management system for routine delivery of
information, including attribution of the state of
the climate.

Argo epitomizes these plans

Argo is a GEOSS success
What is an Argo Float?
http://www.argo.ucsd.edu/
 Argo at PMEL: Float Providing

•Argo Float purchases budgeted: Active PMEL Float Locations 03 Jul 2008

•As of 03 July 2008:

-340 Argo floats deployed
-307 Argo floats active

Vessels: NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown, R/V Maurice Ewing, M/V Explorer, NOAA Ship Miller Freeman, T/S
Golden Bear, NOAA Ship Hi'ialakai, NOAA Ship David Starr Jordan, NOAA Ship Ka'imimoana, R/V Kilo
Moana, NOAA Ship McArthur II, R/V Melville, T/S Oshoro Maru, USCG Polar Sea, R/V Roger Revelle,
SSV Robert C. Seamans, R/V Tangaroa, R/V Thomas G. Thompson, R/V Wecoma, R/V Knorr. . .
Argo at PMEL: Float Preparation
•Suite of tests developed with academic
colleagues & manufacturers
<-Proof of value in survival rate plots
•Careful preparation & deployment by
user-providers maximizes data return
and data quality

-Inspect exterior, seals, &components

-Check weight
-Test transmitter, oil pump, vacuum, CTD
-Check pneumatics
-Replace batteries: alkaline -> lithium,
increases float longevity
-Check salinity for calibration/fouling
-Dock Testing for multi-profile mission
-Monitor atmos. pressure readings
-Check vacuum, piston, mission
-Record max temperature during shipping
-Store test results in a database
 Argo at PMEL: Float Reliability
•Feedback to manufacturers benefits all users

–Found O-ring impurities

-> Better O-ring inspections & new vendor at WRC
–Focused attention on bladder delamination
-> More attention to bladder stock at WRC
-> Improved bladder welding
-> WRC investigating new vendor
–Found numerous leaky pneumatic systems
-> Improved testing at WRC
-Demonstrated air pump failures
-> WRC changing software to avoid power drain
–Focused attention on TBT fouling of conductivity cells
-> Improved TBT plug installation procedures at SBE
–Focused attention on pressure sensor problems
-> SBE working on sensor screening procedures
–Feedback to WRC on ballasting field performance
–>Compensator charge & piston position checks at WRC
–>Adjustments in ballasting correction factors
–Better desiccant packs at WRC
-Focused attention on QC at WRC
-> New checksheets
-> Thermal cycling of components
-> Closer attention to quality of hardware & assembly
 Argo at PMEL: Technology

Several PMEL-Driven Improvements

Benefit Argo as a whole:

•APF-8 fast first profile

–First profile within a day after deployment
–Allows closer comparisons with shipboard CTD
•APEX APF-8 pressure activation
–Float periodically checks pressure
–Easier deployments & fail-safe backup
•APEX APF-8 improved pressure telemetry
–Will allow reporting negative pressures
–First floats deployed in December 2007
•APEX APF-8 air pump limitation software
-Prevents excess power drain if pump fails
•APEX Compensator
–Allows global 2000-dbar profiling
–Early adopter of this device

Field testing pressure activation

on Lake Washington
Argo at PMEL: Data Quality
Standards
•Conductivity sensor calibration drift correction
-Work by A. Wong (UW), G. Johnson (PMEL), & B. Owens (WHOI)
-Manuscript published in 2003 (J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol.)
-Method has been adopted & revised internationally
-Argo DMQC mainstay

•CTD Sensor Response Corrections

-Work by G. Johnson (PMEL), J. Toole (WHOI), & N. Larson (SBE)
-SBE-41 and SBE-41CP conductivity cell thermal mass error
-Manuscript published in 2007 (J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol.)
-Correction algorithm developed & distributed
-International adoption proceeding

•PMEL Delayed Mode Quality Control

-Examine each profile for quality flag changes
-Apply pressure drift correction, sensor response corrections
-Correct conductivity sensor drift if needed
 Argo at PMEL: Outreach
Undergraduate involvement in climate observing system

SSV Robert C. Seamans M/V Explorer T/S Golden Bear

(Sea Education Association) (Semester at Sea) (Cal Poly at Sea)
29 floats on 12 cruises! 7 floats on 1 cruise 22 floats on 3 cruises
Ongoing collaboration Oceanography lectures Ongoing collaboration
 Argo at PMEL: Publications
• Johnson, G. C. 2008. A cyclonic submesoscale coherent vortex in the northeast Pacific. Journal of Physical Oceanography, submitted.
• Willis, J. K., J. M. Lyman, J. M., G. C. Johnson, and J. Gilson. 2008. In situ data biases and recent ocean heat content variability.
Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, in revision.
• Lyman, J. M, and G. C. Johnson. 2008. Estimating global upper ocean heat content despite irregular sampling. Journal of Climate, in
press.
• Johnson, G. C., and J. M. Lyman. 2008. Global Oceans: Sea Surface Salinity. In State of the Climate in 2007, Bulletin of the American
Meteorological Society, 89, in press
• Johnson, G. C., J. M. Lyman, and J. K. Willis. 2008. Global Oceans: Heat Content. In State of the Climate in 2007, Bulletin of the
American Meteorological Society, 89, in press.
• Stramma, L., G. C. Johnson, J. Sprintall, and V. Mohrholz. 2008. Expanding Oxygen-Minimum Zones in the Tropical Oceans. Science, 320,
655-658, doi: 10.1126/science.1153847.Johnson, G. C., and J. M. Lyman. 2007. Global Oceans: Sea Surface Salinity. In State of the
Climate in 2006, A. Arguez, Ed., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 88, 6, S34-S35
• Johnson, G. C., J. M. Lyman, and J. K. Willis. 2007. Global Oceans: Heat Content. In State of the Climate in 2006, A. Arguez, Ed.,
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 88, 6, S31-S33.
• Johnson, G. C., J. M. Toole, and N. G. Larson. 2007. Sensor corrections for Sea-Bird SBE-41CP and SBE-41 CTDs. Journal of Atmospheric
and Oceanic Technology, 24, 1117-1130.
• Aagaard, K., T. J. Weingartner, S. L. Danielson, R. A. Woodgate, G. C. Johnson, and T. E. Whitledge. 2006. Some controls on flow and
salinity in Bering Strait. Geophysical Research Letters, 33, L19602, doi:10.1029/2006GL026612.
• Lyman, J. M., J. K. Willis, and G. C. Johnson. 2006. Recent cooling of the upper ocean. Geophysical Research Letters, 33, L18604,
doi:10.1029/2006GL027033. & Willis, J. K., J. M. Lyman, G. C. Johnson, and J. Gilson. 2007. Correction to "Recent cooling of the upper
ocean". Geophysical Research Letters, 34, L16601, doi:10.1029/2007GL030323.
• Johnson, G. C., J. M. Lyman, and J. K. Willis. 2006. Global Oceans: Heat Content. In State of the Climate in 2005, K.A. Shein, Ed.,
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 87, 6, S23-S24.
• Johnson, G. C. 2006. Generation and initial evolution of a mode water theta-S anomaly. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 36, 739-751.
• Wirts, A. E., and G. C. Johnson. 2005. Recent interannual upper ocean variability in the deep southeast Bering Sea. Journal of Marine
Research, 63, 38-405.
• Wong, A. P. S. 2005. Subantarctic Mode Water and Antarctic Intermediate Water in the South Indian Ocean based on profiling float
data 2000–2004. Journal of Marine Research, 63, 789–812.
• Johnson, G. C., P. J. Stabeno, and S. D. Riser. 2004. The Bering Slope Current System revisited. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 34,
384-398.
• Wong, A. P. S., and G. C. Johnson. 2003. South Pacific Eastern Subtropical Mode water. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 33, 1493-
1509.
• Wong, A. P. S., G. C. Johnson, and W. B. Owens. 2003. Delayed-mode calibration of autonomous CTD profiling float salinity data by
theta-S climatology. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 20, 308-318.
 Argo Future Possibilities

•Full-depth sampling:
-52% of ocean volume below 2000 m
-For climate studies: ocean heat storage, sea level rise,
and MOC
•Under ice systems:
-Make Argo truly global
-More observations in climate-sensitive high latitudes
•Oxygen & other biogeochemical sensors:
-Would improve ocean carbon storage estimates
-Additional link to ecosystems studies
•Iridium data transmission system
-Reduces surface time
-Allows better vertical resolution
-Allows more sensors

All will require more resources