The broad-scale global array of temperature/salinity profiling floats, known as Argo, is a major component of the ocean observing system.
Argo is a standard to which other developing ocean observing systems can look to for ideas as it was designed from the outset to function as a global network. Argo exemplifies international collaboration, with 26 nations contributing floats (2019) and a data management system that delivers consistent quality controlled data streams to the global data center. Deployments began in 2000 and continue today at the rate of about 800 to 1000 per year.
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