EuroGOOS Argo Task Team

The international Argo Programme is an important component of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), providing freely available data on the physical and biogeochemical state of the ocean sampled by a global array of autonomous profiling floats. The Euro-Argo ERIC (European Research Infrastructure Consortium) allows active coordination and strengthening of the European contribution to the international Argo programme. Its main goal is to provide, deploy and operate an array that is the European contribution to the global ocean array.

The EuroGOOS Argo Task Team is expected to be the main forum for non-Euro-Argo ERIC institutions/countries in issues related to planning, deployment, quality control and sustainability of Argo floats in tight collaboration with the Euro-Argo ERIC bodies and members. As all EuroGOOS Task Teams, this activity is an important building block towards an integrated end-to-end European Ocean Observing System (EOOS).

Key objectives

The main objective of the Task Team is to facilitate interactions between non-Euro-Argo ERIC institutes/countries and the Euro-Argo ERIC governance structure, especially the Management Board (MB).

The Task Team aims to:

• Meet regularly with the Euro-Argo ERIC MB, at least once a year, arranged to be during the MB annual meetings;
• Support and facilitate the process of Euro-Argo ERIC membership of present non-Euro-Argo ERIC countries;
• Organize workshops/training about Argo issues (e.g., DMQC-Delayed Mode Quality Control) in collaboration with the Euro-Argo ERIC;
• Collaborate in the organization of events with the Euro-Argo ERIC (e.g., Science Meeting and Users Meeting);
• Prepare, in collaboration with the Euro-Argo ERIC, the participation to the Argo Steering Team (AST) and Argo Data Management Team (ADMT) meetings;
• Develop the collaboration with users and stakeholder communities in non-ERIC EU member countries, and facilitate the recruitment of new members;
• Link with EuroGOOS Regional Operational Observing Systems (ROOSs), Working Groups, Task Teams and relevant ongoing observational programmes/projects;
• Report annually to the EuroGOOS General Assembly.