Abstract
The Biogeochemical-Argo program (BGC-Argo) is a new profiling-float-based, ocean wide, and distributed ocean monitoring program which is tightly linked to, and has benefited significantly from, the Argo program. The community has recommended for BGC-Argo the addition of six measurements in addition to pressure, temperature and salinity measured by Argo, to include oxygen, pH, nitrate, downwelling light, chlorophyll fluorescence and the optical backscattering coefficient. The purpose of this addition is to enable the monitoring of ocean biogeochemistry and health, and in particular, monitor major processes such as ocean deoxygenation, acidification and warming and their effect on phytoplankton, the main source of energy of marine ecosystems. Here we describe the salient issues associated with the operation of the BGC-Argo network, with information useful for those interested in deploying and using the data it produces. These include, float testing, deployment and increasingly, recovery. Aspect of data management, processing and quality control are covered as well as specific issues associated with each of the six BGC-Argo sensors. In particular, it is recommended that water samples be collected during float deployment to be used for validation of sensor output.
Highlights
The Biogeochemical-Argo program (BGC-Argo) was officially launched in 2016 with the goal to measure key biogeochemical ocean variables at a global scale
Evaluation and improvement of technology was a constant preoccupation of the program and still is today. These principles are essential to the future of BGC-Argo, and an even broader commitment is under discussion to unite core-Argo, Deep-Argo, and BGCArgo efforts into a coordinated array, currently referred to as Argo2020 (Roemmich et al, 2019)
We suggest that participants in BGC-Argo should, at a minimum, commit to achieving the 10-day repeat cycle for a targeted lifetime of 4 years (i.e., 150 core BGC-Argo profiles over 4 years), profile down to 2000 m at least once a month, and target expending less than 20% of their float battery budgets addressing ancillary goals beyond the core BGC-Argo mission
Summary
BGC-Argo addresses five science topics (ocean acidification, nitrogen cycling and oxygen minimum zones, biological carbon pump, ocean carbon uptake, and phytoplankton communities) and two ocean management topics (living marine resources and carbon budget verification), besides being a unique way to perform exploration of biogeochemical processes. These principles are essential to the future of BGC-Argo, and an even broader commitment is under discussion to unite core-Argo, Deep-Argo (floats which can make measurements below the previous 2000 m Argo limit), and BGCArgo efforts into a coordinated array, currently referred to as Argo2020 (Roemmich et al, 2019) The goal of this “best practices” document is to develop the procedures required to provide the highest quality data to the largest possible end user community in a cost effective and timely manner. Up-to-date information on BGC-Argo such as participating countries and projects, BGC-Argo’s objectives, the network’s status, or links to the current data management documentation are available online at biogeochemical-argo.org
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