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Place of publication :
Publication year : 2009
Thematic : Marine Resources
Language : English
Note
The Argo Program has achieved 5 years of global coverage, growing from a very sparse global array of
1000 profiling floats in early 2004 to more than 3000 instruments from late 2007 to the present. Using
nearly 350,000 temperature and salinity profiles, we constructed an upper-ocean climatology and
monthly anomaly fields for the 5-year era, 2004–2008. A basic description of the modern upper ocean
based entirely on Argo data is presented here, to provide a baseline for comparison with past datasets
and with ongoing Argo data, to test the adequacy of Argo sampling of large-scale variability, and to examine
the consistency of the Argo dataset with related ocean observations from other programs. The Argo 5-
year mean is compared to the World Ocean Atlas, highlighting the middle and high latitudes of the southern
hemisphere as a region of strong multi-decadal warming and freshening. Moreover the region is one
where Argo data have contributed an enormous increment to historical sampling, and where more Argo
floats are needed for documenting large-scale variability. Globally, the Argo-era ocean is warmer than the
historical climatology at nearly all depths, by an increasing amount toward the sea surface; it is saltier in
the surface layer and fresher at intermediate levels. Annual cycles in temperature and salinity are compared,
again to WOA01, and to the National Oceanography Center air–sea flux climatology, the Reynolds
SST product, and AVISO satellite altimetric height. These products are consistent with Argo data on hemispheric
and global scales, but show regional differences that may either point to systematic errors in the
datasets or their syntheses, to physical processes, or to temporal variability. The present work is viewed
as an initial step toward integrating Argo and other climate-relevant global ocean datasets.
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Keywords : meta-analysis
Encoded by : Pauline Carmel Joy Eje
