The goal is to have the entire array of floats drifting and bobbing throughout the world's ice-free oceans by 2003. Each float is programmed to sink a mile into the ocean, drifting at that depth for about 10 days, before slowly rising, measuring temperature and salinity through the layers as it makes its way to the surface. At the surface, data is transmitted to a communications satellite and the probe begins another cycle. Each float is designed to last 4-5 years. Argo floats can be deployed from ships or by aircraft.
All data transmitted from the Argo network are fully and openly available.
The U.S. and all other countries will have immediate access to data from each float without any restrictions or period of exclusive use. The U.S. contribution to Argo is funded by NOAA and the Office of Naval Research through the National Oceanographic Partnership Program. Argo is being implemented by NOAA, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of Washington, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Argo builds upon more than a decade of investment in the development of float technology on the part of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment as funded by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research. The project was named Argo to complement the Jason-1 satellite, a joint project between NASA and France's Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, to be launched early next year.