Profiling Floats

Profiling floats are manufactured by many companies primarily for use in the international Argo program to study climate change in the world's oceans.  The floats move up and down in the water column using a buoyancy pump, but unlike a Slocum glider, they lack wings to provide lift and forward momentum. They therefore passively drift with the ocean currents and cannot be accurately navigated.  Profiling floats have very long endurances, typically remaining at sea for 3-5 years at a time.

Profiling floats are equipped with oceanographic sensors, a GPS receiver, and an Iridium satellite modem, and they return to the surface on a regular schedule (e.g., every 10 days) to transmit recently collected data to shore. We have integrated the DMON instrument in the MRV Alto float, and can transmit to shore information about marine mammal detections, ocean noise, and even marine meteorology derived from passive acoustics (wind speed and precipitation rate).