Wednesday, August 13, 2014

In the News: Argo Floats

In the Ocean, Clues to Change. (The New York Times, 8/11/2014)

Building a better robot.  That is where the prototype robotic floats, developed at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, come in. 

The idea is to supplement the older robots that are already prowling the ocean. That system, known as Argo, is one of the scientific triumphs of the age, but even the most advanced of the floats can dive only a little more than a mile, so they miss the bottom half of the sea. 

Developing robots able to go deeper has been a technical challenge, but scientists think they are about to lick it...



Argo floats....
  • can rise or sink by themselves
  • powered by batteries and can last for 4-7 years
  • float for 9 days,  measuring temperature and current speed
  • sinks to 2,000 meters on day 9
  • rises slowly to surface on day 10 measuring temperature, saltiness, and depth
  • sends data to satellite
  • repeats cycle every 10 days

How is Argo data used?
  • Farmers.  Better predict weather and climate.
  • Oil and gas industries.  Information about waves and swell
  • Shipping industries.  Current speed and direction.
  • Fishing industries.  Finding schools of fish.
  • Scientists.  Understand the oceans and global climate.

Other climate change posts:
Climate change/ocean acidification: Washington's conservative legislators fiddle while the state's baby oysters die by the billions.  (8/4/2014)
Climate change: Somebody can't see the forest for the trees.  (7/29/2014) 
Worldwide it was a very warm June.  (7/23/2014)
Extreme weather, climate change: The Pacific Northwest edition.  (7/22/2014)
This isn't what Gene McDaniels had in mind (Unh, unh, unh, unh, unh, unh).  (5/21/2014)
In this case, you'll find the Crazy, a hidebound ideologue, in room 205 of the Russell Senate Office Building.  (5/14/2014)
Sunny-day flooding in Miami Beach: The everyday reality and the political denial.  (5/9/2014)
The rising sea levels of Bangladesh.  (3/30/2014)
Cold enough for you?  (3/9/2014)
Meteors, glaciers, and climate change.  (1/14/2014)
Climate change spurs northward growth of mangroves.  (1/1/2014)
Dear Skeptics, Climate change is already driving informed business decisions.  (12/15/2013)
Florida's vulnerable coastline.  (11/12/2013)
Promoting the need for regionalism among nations along the Bay of Bengal coast.  (10/14/2013)
Climate change not taking a back seat everywhere in Wisconsin.  (9/27/2013)
Climate change deniers continue to jump on the Daily Mail crazy train (or Oops! they did it again).  (9/25/2013) 
Cal Thomas: This climate change bulletin just in from the Daily Mail.  (9/24/2013) 
Cal Thomas needs a research assistant.  (9/23/2013)
Climate change, as a matter of fact.  (8/31/2013)
Outagamie County residents will be better served with a more proactive approach.  (8/20/2013)
Here's what got Ron Johnson's undies in a bundle (NoRoJo in 2016, chapter 12).  (8/15/2013)
Georgia's anti-science climate denier caucus.  (7/31/2013)
Here's a comforting headline.  (3/8/2013)
Making Fox News-Inspired Jokes About Climate Change? Consider Australia.  (3/5/2013)
The New Normal: Living With Extreme Weather (Northeastern U.S. Edition).  (2/10/2013)
1975: "There's a new ice age coming, but I wouldn't want to predict when.".  (1/27/2013)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Embargoes Use of Phrase "Climate Change"?  (12/31/2012)
Can you say 'climate change'?  (11/28/2012)
As you already know, Fox News is shameless.  (9/29/2012)
Dear George, It will take more than denial to get over climate change in Greenland.  (9/27/2012)
Climate change results in Coast Guard's "unprecedented" deployment to North Shore of Alaska.  (7/23/2013)
Weather history is made in the Northeast.  (10/30/2011)
Climate change in the American mind.  (6/8/2011)
Stuff you won't see on Fox News.  (1/8/2010)

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