The retrieval of beached Argo Floats Report by the AIC

Transcription

1 The retrieval of beached Argo Floats Report by the AIC December ) Background The Argo Executive at its meeting in February 2005 considered how Argo should deal with floats that are washed up on shore. The actions decided were to: a) Assess the magnitude of the problem b) Take steps to minimise the number of future beaching and c) Ensure that floats that come to land are safely recovered or disposed of This memo documents what is known of floats that have come ashore and addresses issue a). The tables/figure presented here will be updated regularly, and made available (restricted access) on the new AIC website. Additionally, it is planned by the AIC to generate reports routinely to follow the status of retrieval procedures. The AST agreed that the cost of, and responsibility for, the retrieval should be borne by the float owner. While this may be expensive, it is a necessary overhead of the Argo project. All necessary steps need to be taken to minimise the probability of incident or hazard. The AIC is likely to be the first contact point in identifying grounded floats and will assist as appropriate in coordinating communications between all parties in the retrieval procedure. Examples of national/regional contact points that may help: IOC, WMO, oceanographic and meteorological national institutes, Argo National Focal Points, Port Meteorological Officers. Some actions are proposed by the AIC to rationalize the track of beached floats. With 2300 operating floats (and 1200 inactive) manual investigation are time consuming and appropriate tools are required. 2) Float Label A label is directly affixed on each float by the manufacturers (Webb, Martec, Optimar). Information collected by the notification procedure permits to know that 50% of the fleet is labelled. More floats are labelled in the reality as this detail is not rigorously recorded by the notifiers. Please check the Argo floats you purchase are all equipped with that label. We encouraged the PIs to write the WMO id on the sticker with a waterproof pen, if possible. To that end, it is recommended to ask for WMO ids in advance: e.g. ask all your Ids for one year. It is recalled that the WMO Areas (the A in A9nnnnn) are not a priority for Argo. Priority is to get unique Ids in advance. It is to be noted that: - non Argo profiling floats have been labelled by manufacturers - some gliders have been labelled - SIO is preparing a new design, lighter (to avoid any ballasting change during the mission). When it will be ready, manufacturers will order stickers directly to the printing company.

2 Fig 1: Old & New Argo Label

3 A further necessary step is that safety procedures need to be produced by manufacturers and distributed to all float purchasers and via ATC/JCOMMOPS to regional Argo contact points, Coast Guards, IOC national contact points, Port Meteorological Officers, etc. As mentioned in the APEX user manual, there's a risk of explosive hydrogen accumulation in the instrument, from the batteries. This is especially true if any seawater has entered. The chance of a problem is small, and if the floats are still transmitting, there's probably no water inside. Here are some first advices given by float experts: - do not ask large public to manipulate the instrument if possible - ask for a photo to check the status of the instrument - ask to check any detail (as serial Ids) that could help to identify the owner - handle the float with care - DO NOT try to open the float, damage may cause shorting of the batteries, which may give off toxic fumes although the batteries are fused - DO NOT overheat the float: direct sun exposition, incineration can cause batteries to gas and explode - DO NOT expose float to excessive vibration which could result in batteries damage - IF OPENED do not expose batteries to high humidity for an extended period or get the batteries wet. - Label correctly the float for shipping if contains lithium batteries - Webb Research Corp. recommends removing the seal plug before shipment, especially if shipping by air, in order to ventilate the case. The seal plug is on the upper end cap, as shown in the picture below. It should be unscrewed (rotate CCW) for removal. Normally we'd use a 3/16 in hex wrench, but a pair of pliers will suffice. Fig 2: APEX seal plug =>Action (AIC): Record all floats equipped with Lithium batteries in the AIC float Database => Action (AIC): Draft and distribute the safety procedures 3) Floats that have come ashore The floats listed in table 1 below have been detected from their Argos positions (assimilated independently and bi-daily by the AIC) or from their having been found, to be on-shore or near.

4 => Action (AST): This information should be confirmed by the relevant PI and/or national programme and appropriate retrieval procedures should be started. => Action (AIC): Clean up AIC database concerning dead floats trajectories (Argos Ids are reused ) To check floats are beached, following tools can be used: - The interactive map: displaying active and inactive floats. - Google Earth ( which displays detailed satellite maps of shores. (Add this network link to get auto updated Argo network) Fig 3: Float located at Lima airport =>Action (AIC): Develop some rational tools to find floats on land (e.g. direct comparison with global bathymetry data or GIS geo-processing)

5 Status WMO ID Telecom ID Last Data Model Program # Profiles Age Label Place Comments /04/2004 APEX Argo AUSTRALIA 0 0 YES Tasmania Not deployed? /12/2005 APEX Argo CANADA Gulf Alaska /12/2005 APEX Argo CHINA YES Philippines /06/2005 APEX Argo CHINA YES Philippines /06/2003 Provor Argo INDIA Madras /04/2004 Provor Argo JAPAN YES Philippines /12/2005 APEX Argo METRI/KMA YES Indonesia /10/2002 APEX Argo METRI/KMA North Korea /08/2004 APEX Argo METRI/KMA Japan /12/2005 APEX Argo METRI/KMA YES Philippines /12/2003 APEX Argo METRI/KMA Philippines /12/2005 APEX Argo METRI/KMA Philippines /01/2003 SOLO Argo SIO NO Philippines /12/2005 SOLO Argo SIO NO Chile /11/2001 SOLO Argo SIO NO Fiji /10/2003 SOLO Argo SIO NO Philippines /03/2005 APEX Argo UK YES Somalia /12/2005 APEX Argo UW YES Tanzania Contact established /12/2005 APEX Argo UW YES Peru Port -> Airport? /12/2005 APEX Argo UW YES Sri Lanka /10/2004 APEX Argo UW YES Indonesia /12/2005 APEX Argo UW YES Maldives /06/2002 SOLO Argo WHOI 12 4 NO Brazil /06/2002 SOLO Argo WHOI NO St Lucia /06/2005 SOLO Argo WHOI NO Cuba /10/2005 SOLO Argo WHOI NO Puerto Rico /01/1999 PALACE Argo eq. AOML NO Brazil /01/2005 APEX Argo eq. IRELAND Scotland /04/2004 APEX Argo eq. NAVOCEANO Egypt /04/2003 APEX Argo eq. NAVOCEANO Israel /04/2005 APEX Argo eq. NAVOCEANO Japan /07/2005 APEX Argo eq. NAVOCEANO India /10/2004 APEX Argo eq. NAVOCEANO India /12/2005 APEX Argo eq. NAVOCEANO Iran /02/2004 APEX Argo eq. NAVOCEANO Japan /01/2001 APEX Argo eq. NAVOCEANO Egypt /07/2004 APEX Argo eq. NAVOCEANO Yemen /08/2001 APEX Argo eq. NAVOCEANO Italy /08/2004 APEX Argo eq. NAVOCEANO Syria /07/2004 APEX Argo eq. NAVOCEANO Israel /04/2004 APEX Argo eq. NAVOCEANO Turkey /12/2003 APEX Argo eq. NAVOCEANO Turkey /12/2000 APEX Argo eq. NAVOCEANO Sardinia /05/2004 APEX Argo eq. NAVOCEANO Yemen /09/2002 APEX Argo eq. NAVOCEANO Egypt /12/2005 APEX Argo eq. NAVOCEANO Turkey /05/2004 APEX Argo eq. NAVOCEANO Iran /12/2005 APEX Argo eq. NAVOCEANO Turkey /04/2005 APEX Argo eq. UW-UA Greece /03/2005 Provor MEDARGO Cyprus /12/2005 APEX MEDARGO Sardinia on progress. At Coast Guards office

6 /09/2005 APEX MEDARGO Egypt /12/2005 APEX MEDARGO Balearic Is. Table 1: Beached Floats Fig4 Zoom on Philippines => Action (AIC/AST): Establish regional contacts to prepare retrieval. Priorities?? 4) Retrieved Floats To date the AIC is aware of 22 floats have been retrieved by their responsible PIs/National programmes. These are listed below. This list is probably not exhaustive and PI feedback concerning any other floats that have been retrieved would be appreciated. It is to be noted that all these floats were not beached. WMO ID Telecom ID Last Data Model Programme # Profiles Age (months) Label /12/2005 APEX Argo AUSTRALIA YES /08/2004 APEX Argo CANADA YES /03/2004 APEX Argo CHINA YES /11/2004 Provor Argo INDIA /06/2003 APEX Argo JAPAN /11/2001 Provor Argo JAPAN /11/2001 APEX Argo JAPAN /06/2002 Provor Argo JAPAN

7 /08/2003 APEX Argo JAPAN /06/2003 APEX Argo JAPAN /02/2003 NINJA Argo JAPAN /05/2002 SOLO Argo SIO NO /04/2005 SOLO Argo SIO NO /12/2004 APEX Argo UW YES /12/2003 APEX Argo eq. NAVOCEANO /12/2003 APEX Argo eq. NAVOCEANO /07/2005 PALACE Argo eq. UW NO /07/2005 APEX MEDARGO YES /11/2003 Provor MEDARGO /11/2003 Provor MEDARGO /11/2003 APEX MEDARGO /11/2003 APEX MEDARGO YES 5) Conclusions Table 2: Floats Retrieved US NAVO equivalent programme has many floats on shore. A global strategy for retrieval has to be defined particularly for Med. Sea and Philippines. Regarding Med. Sea, the float cycles have to be programmed to minimize the time on surface. Some priorities have to be defined as the retrieval procedures are long to be achieved. When a float is found PIs have to decide what to do with it: ship it back or let the float at the disposal of local authorities. In this case a clear guidance has to be given. The AIC waits a clear request from the programme before acting. Planned developments at the AIC concerning this issue may help to track these beached floats more rigorously. Finally the number of floats that went ashore compared to the number of float deployed is more than acceptable: < 2%. Most of floats come ashore in non Argo participating countries. This is an excellent opportunity to establish regional contacts (with local oceanographers) and promote the Argo programme, targeting future co operations.