Argo
Also: ARGO
Argo project and instrumentation
Argo is an international project to collect information on the temperature and salinity of the upper part of the world's oceans. Argo uses robotic floats that spend most of their life drifting below the ocean surface, reaching depths of 2000 metres and spending periods of approximately 10 days below the surface. Floats make temperature and salinity measurements as they rise to the surface. After surfacing they transmit their data to satellites and then submerge to repeat the data collection cycle. Today there are over 3800 floats producing over 100,000 temperature/salinity profiles per year. (Adapted from NOAA's Argo FAQ)
Argo floats were deployed starting in the year 2000, replacing the WOCE project.
All IPCC definitions taken from Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Working Group I Contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Annex I, Glossary, pp. 941-954. Cambridge University Press.