The first BGC and Deep Argo float deployments in the Nordic Seas

On the dates 19th and 20th May 2019, the first BGC and Deep Argo floats were deployed in the Nordic Seas. This was done on a cruise with R/V Johan Hjort, and in total five Argo floats were deployed during these two days. On the 19th May, a BGC float (PROVOR CTS4) and a Bio float (APEX with additional sensors) were deployed in the Norwegian Basin (67N, 1E), while on the 20th May, a BGC float, a Bio, and a Deep Argo (Arvor) float were deployed in the Lofoten Basin (70N, 2E). Data and drift of these floats can be viewed at the NorArgo map http://www.imr.no/forskning/prosjekter/norargo/map.

Cruise leader Henrik Søiland deploys a deep Arvor.

The BGC-floats include CTD, dissolved oxygen, fluormeter, backscatter, nitrate, pH, and irradiance sensors, while the Bio-float include all the BGC-sensors except the pH and nitrate sensors. Both BGC and Bio floats take vertical profiles down to 2000 m depth, while the deep Argo, which includes dissolved oxygen sensor, takes profiles down to the bottom.

The cruise continues until 4th June and within the next days another eight Argo floats will be deployed in the Lofoten and Greenland Basin. Water samples are taken for analysis of several chemical and biological variables, that will be used for climate monitoring and validation of BGC-sensors. The cruise can be followed with regular updates on the ICOS Norway facebook, https://www.facebook.com/ICOSNorway/.