Argo France SNO
The SNO (National Observation Service) Argo-France is responsible for the scientific management of Argo France. The SNO Argo-France, attached to the OSU IUEM (Observatory of the European University Institute of the Sea), is managed by the Physical and Space Oceanography Laboratory (LOPS, Brest, France) and the Villefranche Oceanography Laboratory - Villefranche Marine Environment Institute (LOV-IMEV, Villefranche-sur-mer, France). It has been labelled by the CNRS/INSU since 2011 to support and organise Argo France activities and provide high quality data.
The SNO Argo-France objectives for the period 2020-2024 are to:
- provide quality Argo data to the French scientific community in order to foster and promote the French contribution to climate studies, and more generally to oceanographic research conducted with Argo data (physical and biochemical parameters) directly or through reanalysis and assimilation products;
- consolidate and organise the French contribution to the international Argo programme and the European research infrastructure Euro-Argo;
- consolidate and strengthen the development of the Argo-BGC mission to measure biogeochemical parameters from Argo floats;
- consolidate and strengthen the development of the Argo-Deep mission to measure the ocean floor.
Argo France SNO flow chart