In the past two decades, the Argo Program has collected, processed, and distributed over two million vertical profiles of temperature and salinity from the upper two kilometers of the global ocean. A similar number of subsurface velocity observations near 1,000 dbar have also been collected. This paper recounts the history of the global Argo Program, from its aspiration arising out of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment, to the development and implementation of its instrumentation and telecommunication systems, and the various technical problems encountered. We describe the Argo data system and its quality control procedures, and the gradual changes in the vertical resolution and spatial coverage of Argo data from 1999 to 2019. The accuracies of the float data have been assessed by comparison with high-quality shipboard measurements, and are concluded to be 0.002 • C for temperature, 2.4 dbar for pressure, and 0.01 PSS-78 for salinity, after delayed-mode adjustments. Finally, the challenges faced by the vision of an expanding Argo Program beyond 2020 are discussed.

[1] Two deep ocean hotspots of turbulent mixing were found over the Oregon continental slope. Thorpe-scale analyses indicate time-averaged turbulent energy dissipation rates of > 10 À7 W/kg and eddy diffusivities of K r $ 10 À2 m 2 /s at both hotspots. However, the structure of turbulence and its generation mechanism at each site appear to be different. At the 2200-m isobath, sustained >100-m high turbulent overturns occur in stratified fluid several hundred meters above the bottom. Turbulence shows a clear 12.4-h periodicity proposed to be driven by flow over a nearby 100-m tall ridge. At the 1300-m isobath, tidally-modulated turbulence of similar intensity is confined within a stratified bottom boundary layer. Along-slope topographic roughness at scales not resolved in global bathymetric data sets appears to be responsible for the bulk of the turbulence observed. Such topography is common to most continental slopes, providing a mechanism for turbulence generation in regions where barotropic tidal currents are nominally along-isobath. Citation:

A complex superposition of locally forced and shoaling remotely generated semidiurnal internal tides occurs on the Oregon continental slope. Presented here are observations from a zonal line of five profiling moorings deployed across the continental slope from 500 to 3000 m, a 24-h expendable current profiler (XCP) survey, and five 15-48-h lowered ADCP (LADCP)/CTD stations. The 40-day moored deployment spans three spring and two neap tides, during which the proportions of the locally and remotely forced internal tides vary. Baroclinic signals are strong throughout spring and neap tides, with 4-5-day-long bursts of strong crossslope baroclinic semidiurnal velocity (u M 2. 0:05 m s 21 ) and vertical displacement (z M 2 . 100 m). Energy fluxes exhibit complex spatial and temporal patterns throughout both tidal periods. During spring tides, local barotropic forcing is strongest and energy flux over the slope is predominantly offshore (westward). During neap tides, shoaling remotely generated internal tides dominate and energy flux is predominantly onshore (eastward). Shoaling internal tides do not exhibit a strong spring-neap cycle and are also observed during the first spring tide, indicating that they originate from multiple sources. The bulk of the remotely generated internal tide is hypothesized to be generated from south of the array (e.g., Mendocino Escarpment), because energy fluxes at the deep mooring 100 km offshore are always directed northward. However, fluxes on the slope suggest that the northbound internal tide is turned onshore, most likely by reflection from large-scale bathymetry. This is verified with a simple three-dimensional model of mode-1 internal tides propagating obliquely onto a near-critical slope, whose output conforms fairly well to observations, in spite of its simplicity.

[1] An internal partly standing wave in Mamala Bay, Hawaii is studied using new observations and the Princeton Ocean Model (POM). Previous work suggested a convergence in the bay of east-and westbound waves emanating from Kaena Ridge and Makapuu Point, respectively. New energy flux measurements with shipboard ADCP/CTD confirm that Makapuu Point is the eastern source. After validating the POM results against observations, the model output is modally decomposed and compared with the expected theoretical patterns of kinetic and available potential energy, energy flux, and group velocity for a partly standing wave. Agreement is seen for the first baroclinic mode, which also contains most of the energy. The results confirm previous suggestions of standing wave dynamics in Mamala Bay.

The linear transfer of tidal energy from large to small scales is quantified for small tidal excursion over a near-critical continental slope. A theoretical framework for low-wavenumber energy transfer is derived from ''flat bottom'' vertical modes and evaluated with observations from the Oregon continental slope. To better understand the observations, local tidal dynamics are modeled with a superposition of two idealized numerical simulations, one forced by local surface-tide velocities and the other by an obliquely incident internal tide generated at the Mendocino Escarpment 315 km southwest of the study site. The simulations reproduce many aspects of the observed internal tide and verify the modal-energy balances. Observed transfer of tidal energy into high-mode internal tides is quantitatively consistent with observed turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) dissipation. Locally generated and incident simulated internal tides are superposed with varying phase shifts to mimic the effects of the temporally varying mesoscale. Altering the phase of the incident internal tide alters (i) internal-tide energy flux, (ii) internal-tide generation, and (iii) energy conversion to high modes, suggesting that tidally driven TKE dissipation may vary between 0 and 500 watts per meter of coastline on 3-5-day time scales. Comparison of observed in situ internal-tide generation and satellite-derived estimates of surface-tide energy loss is inconclusive.

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The evolution of the near-inertial internal wavefield from ice-free summertime conditions to ice-covered wintertime conditions is examined using data from a yearlong deployment of six moorings on the Beaufort continental slope from August 2008 to August 2009. When ice is absent, from July to October, energy is efficiently transferred from the atmosphere to the ocean, generating near-inertial internal waves. When ice is present, from November to June, storms also cause near-inertial oscillations in the ice and mixed layer, but kinetic energy is weaker and oscillations are quickly damped. Damping is dependent on ice pack strength and morphology. Decay scales are longer in early winter (November–January) when the new ice pack is weaker and more mobile, decreasing in late winter (February–June) when the ice pack is stronger and more rigid. Efficiency is also reduced, as comparisons of atmospheric energy available for internal wave generation to mixed layer kinetic energies indicate that a smaller percentage of atmospheric energy is transferred to near-inertial motions when ice concentrations are >90%. However, large kinetic energies and shears are observed during an event on 16 December and spectral energy is elevated above Garrett–Munk levels, coinciding with the largest energy flux predicted during the deployment. A significant amount of near-inertial energy is episodically transferred to the internal wave band from the atmosphere even when the ocean is ice covered; however, damping by ice and less efficient energy transfer still leads to low Arctic internal wave energy in the near-inertial band. Increased kinetic energy below 300 m when ice is forming suggests some events may generate internal waves that radiate into the Arctic Ocean interior.

Summer and fall hydrographic sections in the northeastern Chukchi Sea frequently capture 5–20 m thick intrapycnocline lenses or horizontal plumes of warm, moderately salty summer Bering Sea Water flowing northward from Bering Strait. These features occur within the shallow (~20 m depth) pycnocline separating cold, dilute, surface meltwater from near‐freezing, salty, winter‐formed waters beneath the pycnocline. An idealized numerical model suggests that the features arise from eddies and meanders generated by instability of the surface front separating meltwater from Bering Sea Water. Warm Bering Sea Water is transported across the front and into the pycnocline by the cross‐frontal velocities associated with the instabilities. The accompanying lateral eddy heat fluxes may be important both in summer for promoting ice melt and in fall by delaying the onset of ice formation over portions of this shelf. Lateral heat flux magnitudes depend upon the stratification of the Bering Sea Water.