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Going SOLO

October 17, 2012

Bob Tavares, manager of the WHOI Float Lab, prepares SOLO II floats for an ARGO research mission to explore the structure of currents in the South Atlantic. Each float will be deployed at a specific location, descend to 1,000 meters, and remain there for nine days. As it is carried along by currents, instruments in its cap measure the pressure, salinity, and temperature of the water. Then the float will descend to 2,000 meters and begin rising toward the surface, taking measurements all the way up. When it surfaces, the float will relay all the data it took during the dive back to shore—then it will start the cycle again. Its lifespan is about 300 dives.

(Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)