METOCEAN designed the Provor float to support the measurement requirements of the Argo Program (www.argo.ucsd.edu). This international program will be a major component of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and is expected to have an array of 3,000 operational floats by the year 2004. Argo's array of temperature/salinity profiling floats will provide a quantitative description of the evolving state of the upper ocean and the patterns of ocean climate variability, including heat and freshwater storage and transport. It is expected that Argo data will be used for initialization of ocean and coupled forecast models, data assimilation and dynamical model testing. A primary focus of Argo is seasonal to decadal climate variability and predictability.
The METOCEAN-designed profiling subsurface vehicle is a workhorse that can carry payloads of sensors and data storage devices, for both scientific and operational missions. The METOCEAN float has a very robust buoyancy engine with sufficient buoyancy to keep the transmitting antenna well above the water level, while the float is on the sea surface transmitting data to an overhead LEOSAT (Low Earth Orbiting Satellite).
The METOCEAN float uses the IFREMER-designed buoyancy engine, which is used on their Marvor and Provor floats. This well-proven engine uses a hydraulic pump and servo valve to move oil between a reservoir inside the float housing and an external bladder. Our floats offer more internal space and greater buoyancy. They can descend down to 2,000 meters in all oceans of the world and complete more than 150 profiles over 5 years.
The METOCEAN float has three sensor options:
Sea-Bird SBE 41CP CTD sensor (view spec sheets).
FSI Excell CTD sensor (view spec sheets).
SeaScan Pressure/Temperature sensor.
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