Argo Canada Development Blog: Labrador Shelf DFO Argo Float

Clark Richards

Introduction

In July 2017, A DFO Argo float (of NOVA type, containing a pumped SBE CTD) was deployed on the Labrador Shelf, as part of an exercises related to the DFO/ECCC/DND CONCEPTS program (Canadian Operational Network of Coupled Environmental PredicTion Systems). The float was programmed to execute daily profiles between the surface and the bottom until it exhausted its batteries.

The float, with WMO ID 4902426, executed 389 total profiles, surviving a winter season under the ice. Float data and trajectory can be explored through the EuroArgo “Fleet monitoring” site, found at: https://fleetmonitoring.euro-argo.eu/float/4902426, or by downloading the netCDF files directly from https://data-argo.ifremer.fr/dac/meds/4902426/

Data summary

A summary of the data found in the combined profile file 4902426_prof.nc is provided below (using the R oce package developed by myself and Dan Kelley). Another approach, which permits individual access to the single-profile files provided on the Argo DAC, is to use the in development (but quite mature) argoFloats package.

To see a crude map of the float profile locations:

For a quick “section”-style plot of the temperature, salinity, and density data:

Citation

For attribution, please cite this work as

Richards (2021, May 14). Argo Canada Development Blog: Labrador Shelf DFO Argo Float. Retrieved from https://argocanada.github.io/blog/posts/2021-05-14-labrador-shelf-dfo-argo-float/

BibTeX citation

@misc{richards2021labrador,
  author = {Richards, Clark},
  title = {Argo Canada Development Blog: Labrador Shelf DFO Argo Float},
  url = {https://argocanada.github.io/blog/posts/2021-05-14-labrador-shelf-dfo-argo-float/},
  year = {2021}
}