“Deep-Arvor”: A new profiling float to extend the Argo observations down to 4000m depth.

The international Argo program, consisting of a global array of more than 3000 free-drifting profiling floats, has now been monitoring the upper 2000 meters of the ocean for several years. One of its main proposed evolutions is to be able to reach the deeper ocean in order to better observe and understand the key role of the deep ocean in the climate system. For this purpose, Ifremer has designed the new “Deep-Arvor” profiling float: it extends the current operational depth down to 4000 meters, and measures temperature and salinity for up to 150 cycles with CTD pumping continuously and 200 cycles in spot sampling mode. High resolution profiles (up to 2000 points) can be transmitted and data are delivered in near real time according to Argo requirements. Deep-Arvor can be deployed everywhere at sea without any pre-ballasting operation and its light weight (~ 26kg) makes its launching easy. Its design was done to target a cost effective solution. Predefined spots have been allocated to add an optional oxygen sensor and a connector for an extra sensor. Extensive laboratory tests were successful. The results of the first at sea experiments showed that the expected performances of the operational prototypes had been reached (i.e. to perform up to 150 cycles). Meanwhile, the industrialization phase was completed in order to manufacture the Deep-Arvor float for the pilot experiment in 2015. In this paper, we detail all the steps of the development work and present the results from the at sea experiments.