Skip to content
DraconiticResearch
Search Sources API
201,683 studies31 sourcesUpdated 47 min ago
Peer-reviewedCC BY-NC 4.0Earth and Space Science

Residence Time of Lagrangian Profiling Floats: Observational Assessment and Numerical Simulation of Station Keeping Ability

  • Barry B. Ma1
  • Zoltan B. Szuts1
  • Thomas B. Curtin2
  1. 1Applied Physics Laboratory and School of Oceanography University of Washington Seattle WA USA
  2. 2Applied Physics Laboratory University of Washington Seattle WA USA
Read full textPDFDOICite

Abstract

Autonomous profiling floats have revolutionized global ocean observation, yet their passive drift limits their ability to remain within desired regions. Using observations and simulations with numerical ocean models, we quantify observed and potential residence time (RT) of profiling floats and explore station‐keeping strategies. Analysis of Argo float trajectories, performing fixed Argo‐style sampling, reveals strong spatial variability in RT, from <20 days in western boundary currents to >100 days in subtropical gyre interiors and marginal seas. To quantify RT for alternate sampling behaviors, trajectories are calculated using velocity fields from an assimilative ocean reanalysis model in the dynamically complex western Pacific. A simple selection criterion of choosing to park at the depth of minimum horizontal velocity increases the mean RT by tens to several hundreds of percent, compared with fixed parking at 1,000 m. More sophisticated selection strategies lengthen RT further—such as accounting for flow direction or changing the park depth multiple times during one dive. These control methods provide upper limits on the RT by assuming perfect knowledge of the ocean's velocity profile. These results demonstrate the potential of adaptive park‐depth selection for mission‐specific profiling floats and regional observing applications where enhanced RT is a primary objective. Such strategies are not intended for the core Argo array, for which consistent parking‐depth sampling is important for maintaining the long‐term middepth velocity record.

Related

  1. Statistics of large-scale structure from the transition probability of Lagrangian trajectories
    Lawrence Dam
    arXivPreprintarXiv licenceFull textCosmologyStatistical & nonlinear physicsarXiv
  2. A Method Using Differential Equations for Characterizing Warped Product Lagrangian Submanifolds in Complex Space Forms
    Norah Alshehri, Ali H. Alkhaldi, Akram Ali
    MathematicsPeer-reviewedCC BY 4.0General astronomyCrossref
  3. Fast and accurate differentiable code of the galaxy power spectrum based on Eulerian and Lagrangian one-loop perturbation theories
    Yosuke Kobayashi, Kazuyuki Akitsu
    arXivPreprintCC BY 4.0Full textCosmologyarXiv
  4. Convergence of Roberts flow dynamos in Eulerian and Lagrangian codes
    Nikyta Shchutskyi, Axel Brandenburg, Matthieu Schaller
    arXivPreprintarXiv licenceFull textCosmologyGalaxiesarXiv
  5. Landau Damping Beyond Smooth Velocity Distributions: A Dispersion-Free Lagrangian Time-Domain Framework
    Huasheng Xie, Jinsong Zhao
    arXivPreprintCC BY 4.0Full textSolar & stellar physicsPlasma physicsarXiv

Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{ma2026residence,
  title = {{Residence Time of Lagrangian Profiling Floats: Observational Assessment and Numerical Simulation of Station Keeping Ability}},
  author = {Barry B. Ma and Zoltan B. Szuts and Thomas B. Curtin},
  journal = {Earth and Space Science},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1029/2026ea005018},
  url = {https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2026EA005018},
  note = {CC BY-NC 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Residence Time of Lagrangian Profiling Floats: Observational Assessment and Numerical Simulation of Station Keeping Ability
AU  - Barry B. Ma
AU  - Zoltan B. Szuts
AU  - Thomas B. Curtin
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/11
JO  - Earth and Space Science
DO  - 10.1029/2026ea005018
UR  - https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2026EA005018
AB  - Autonomous profiling floats have revolutionized global ocean observation, yet their passive drift limits their ability to remain within desired regions. Using observations and simulations with numerical ocean models, we quantify observed and potential residence time (RT) of profiling floats and explore station‐keeping strategies. Analysis of Argo float trajectories, performing fixed Argo‐style sampling, reveals strong spatial variability in RT, from <20 days in western boundary currents to >100 days in subtropical gyre interiors and marginal seas. To quantify RT for alternate sampling behaviors, trajectories are calculated using velocity fields from an assimilative ocean reanalysis model in the dynamically complex western Pacific. A simple selection criterion of choosing to park at the depth of minimum horizontal velocity increases the mean RT by tens to several hundreds of percent, compared with fixed parking at 1,000 m. More sophisticated selection strategies lengthen RT further—such as accounting for flow direction or changing the park depth multiple times during one dive. These control methods provide upper limits on the RT by assuming perfect knowledge of the ocean's velocity profile. These results demonstrate the potential of adaptive park‐depth selection for mission‐specific profiling floats and regional observing applications where enhanced RT is a primary objective. Such strategies are not intended for the core Argo array, for which consistent parking‐depth sampling is important for maintaining the long‐term middepth velocity record.
SN  - 2333-5084
SN  - 2333-5084
ER  -