About Southern Ocean Argo Regional Centre (SOARC)

The Southern Ocean Argo Regional Centre has the responsibility to validate all float data in the Southern Ocean (south of 35°S) through rigorous scrutiny and to derive products as set out by the international Argo community.

All Argo data is retrieved from the Global Data Centres (GDACs) and a basin wide examination of data is made before making recommends for corrections to the principal investigator (PI). Once corrections have been agreed with the PI the corrected data are sent back to the GDACs.

The primary functions of an Argo Regional Centre (ARC) are:

• Validate all float data in the region
• Provide scientific QC as a service to national programs without such capabilities
• Derive products using float data in the region
• Provide advice/guidance on regional deployment needs
• Assemble the best available recent hydrographic data for calibration purposes
• Develop new real-time quality control tests if appropriate for the region
• Determine the internal consistency of the Argo data set in the region

All Southern Ocean floats can be viewed through a fully zoomable interactive map, where links to float data (netCDF format) are available.

Data from all Argo floats are assimilated in to the Forecasting Ocean Assimilation Model (FOAM). Access Southern Ocean FOAM images of potential temperature, salinity and velocity supplied by the Met Office at monthly intervals.

Contacts

BODC — BODC Argo Team
CSIRO — Esmee van Wijk