Biogeochemical Argo:Â The Science and Implementation Plan
Kenneth S. Johnson and Herve Claustre, Biogeochemical-Argo Co-Chairs
Wednesday 19 April, 15:00 GMT/UTC
Click this link to join the webinar at the appropriate time.
Biogeochemical-Argo is the extension of the Argo array of profiling floats to include floats that are equipped with biogeochemical sensors for pH, oxygen, nitrate, chlorophyll, suspended particles, and downwelling irradiance (the BGC sensor suite). A Biogeochemical-Argo Implementation Plan has been developed, following a planning meeting at Villefranche-sur-Mer in January 2016 with attendees from eight nations. After community comment, a final draft was prepared and it is available at the program web site, http://biogeochemical-argo.org.  A shorter summary of the program rationale, goals, and planning was published in Eos (https://doi.org/10.1029/2016EO062427). Primary research topics are variability in five processes: ocean carbon uptake, ocean acidification, coupling of oxygen minimum zones with nitrogen cycling, the biological carbon pump (net community production and carbon export), and phytoplankton communities. Various OSSEs and data assessment indicate that an array of 1000 floats equipped with the BGC sensor suite would greatly improve our understanding of these processes in a changing environment. The system couples directly to management of living marine resources and carbon budget verification. Preliminary results from the SOCCOM (Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling) float array will be highlighted.