The final report for 2009 has just been published by the Argo Information Centre. Even with 3,198 floats sending a pulse, the Argo core mission is still not completed.

Please provide the Argo Technical Coordinator with your updates regarding your deployment plans by the end of February 2010.

2009 was a difficult year for Argo with only 500 floats deployed (CTD technical problem) and, for the first time, the array clearly decreasing. So 2010 (and probably 2011) will be challenging if we want to catch up with the target deployment rate.

The level of re-seeding of the Indian Ocean has been well maintained, while in the Atlantic and Pacific the implementation was reduced by 50%. Regarding data management, Argo is doing very well but some progress could be made on the delays for the distribution onto the Internet (GDACs).

2009 was however very positive, with new Argo partners established in Europe (via Euro-Argo), in Africa and the promising development of the bio-Argo initiatives.

Entering its second decade of implementation, Argo is still facing the same challenges: financial, technical and logistical. The development of regional and multidisciplinary initiatives will certainly help, provided we do not lose sight of the Argo core mission target.