As part of the fun we have out here, lots of people ask for samples to be taken. Some want water, some want the water filtered to look at plankton etc. but some let us play with expensive bits of hardware like the nice Met Office boys at Exeter.
As we are at the Southern turn of the transect at 28degrees South/25 degrees West today which is before we turn south west and then head straight for the Falklands, we have been requested to deploy (posh word for chuck! No honestly, we lower then in by a crane, Jon) some buoys and floats into the water.
Argo floats
The picture shows in the foreground the very expensive Argo floats, these have a CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth) sensor on them and have the technology to sink to 200m, rise back up to the surface and then send the data back to the Met Office people. Clever bit of kit that will drift around and send results back from wherever the currents take it. These Argo buoys are part of the global Argo float array. Many countries deploy these as part of their oceanographic research programmes.
So that’s the long yellow thing in the photo. Behind it is a drifting buoy, which has a drogue attached to take it with the ocean currents. Both the Argo and global drifters are key to observing ocean systems that are contributing to the Global Climate Observing System and the Global Ocean Observing system (GOOS).
So we have deployed 2 of each so far then one more tomorrrow and Sunday. This gives a good cluster around the 28South position.