GO-BGC Town Hall at ASLO/OSM

Biogeochemical-Argo status and plans

The Biogeochemical-Argo program aims to develop a global network of 1000 Argo profiling floats with oxygen, nitrate, pH, and bio-optical sensors. The BGC-Argo array will operate as one component of the One Argo array, including Core-Argo and Deep-Argo. Contributions of floats with biogeochemical sensors have come from over 20 nations. The BGC-Argo array will address key questions such as: What is the ocean’s role in regulating the carbon cycle? What are the drivers of open ocean deoxygenation? How do physical changes in mixing and circulation affect nutrient availability and productivity? Is the timing and location of phytoplankton blooms changing? Development of the array is accelerating with the funding of large scale programs, such as the Global-Ocean Biogeochemistry Array (GO-BGC) that intends to deploy 500 BGC profiling floats with support from the US NSF. This Town Hall event will report on the current status of the in situ array, the real-time and open access data system, planning for future float deployments that are needed to achieve a global distribution, and recent developments in float and sensor technology. The workshop will be of interest to marine biogeochemists, ocean modelers, fishery scientists, and educators wishing to use an open, high quality data resource.