MedArgo: a drifting profiler program in the Mediterranean Sea

[摘要] In the framework of the EU-funded MFSTEP project, autonomous driftingprofilers were deployed throughout the Mediterranean Sea to collecttemperature and salinity profile data and to measure subsurface currents.The realization of this profiler program in the Mediterranean, referred toas MedArgo, is described and assessed using data collected between June 2004and December 2006 (including more than 2000 profiles). Recommendations areprovided for the permanent future implementation of MedArgo in support ofoperational oceanography in the Mediterranean Sea.

More than twenty drifting profilers were deployed from research vessels andships-of-opportunity in most areas of the Mediterranean. They were allprogrammed to execute 5-day cycles with a drift at a parking depth of350 m and CTD profiles from either 700 or 2000 m up to the surface. Theystayed at the sea surface for about 6 h to be localised by, and transmitthe data to, the Argos satellite system. The temperature and salinity dataobtained with pumped Sea-Bird CTD instruments were processed and madeavailable to the scientific community and to operational users in near-realtime using standard Argo protocols, and were assimilated into Mediterraneannumerical forecasting models.

In general, the cycling and sampling characteristics chosen for the MedArgoprofilers were found to be adequate for the Mediterranean. However, it isstrongly advised to use GPS and global cellular phone telemetry or thefuture Argos bi-directional satellite system in order to avoid datacompression and losses, for the continuation of the Mediterranean driftingprofiler program.

[学科分类] 海洋学与技术