Figure 1: Argo national contributions 

In 1999, a small group of oceanographers outlined a plan to set up an array of profiling floats to monitor the state of the upper 2 km of the global ocean. The initial objective was to maintain a network of 3,000 units, in ice-free areas, providing both real-time data and higher quality delayed mode data and analyses to underpin a new generation ocean and climate models. The programme was called Argo.
By late  2007, as a result of remarkable international collaboration, information sharing and the solution of complex technological problems, the 3,000 float target was reached and the array has remained above 3,000 floats ever since despite the global economic downturn. 

Most importantly all Argo data were, and continue to be, made freely available.  

CSIRO, Hobart, Australia
18-20 February 2013

Registration and call for abstracts has opened for the workshop on the web site http://www.clivar.org/organization/wgomd/sealevel

The workshop aims to bring together leading international scientists and early career scientists from the ocean, ice-sheet, ice-shelf, and sea level rise modeling and observational communities to

• Identify priorities for reducing uncertainties in the projections of global and regional sea-level rise,
• Evaluate the state-of-science of ocean and land-ice interactions,
• Investigate pathways for the development of the next generationof climate models incorporating interactive land-ice components.

Sessions will cover sea level rise, ocean - ice-shelf interactions, ice-sheet observation and modeling, ice-sheet - ice-shelf interactions, and related ocean modeling.

The workshop will consist of invited overview talks, invited more specialized talks by early career scientists, and contributed oral and poster presentations. The overview talks will review and encourage the discussion of the current state of research related to a particular topic with candid and critical comments. A key outcome of the workshop is the interaction that it will facilitate among various groups that are working on different aspects of sea-level change science. Workshop participants will be encouraged to disseminate the outcomes of the workshop through a planned Special Issue of CLIVAR Exchanges.

For more information, to register, submit abstracts and apply for travel support see:

http://www.clivar.org/organization/wgomd/sealevel

Gokhan Danabasoglu, Simon Marsland and Anna Pirani
On behalf of the Scientific Steering Committee

The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) ─ a programme sponsored by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Council for Science (ICSU) ─ is looking for a Consultant for the GCOS-GOOS-WCRP Ocean Observations Panel for Climate (OOPC) to be based at WMO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

Deadline for application: 26 October 2012.

More information on WMO website: http://www.wmo.int/pages/vacancies/documents/VN-consultant-OOPC_en.pdf (in Engilsh), or http://www.wmo.int/pages/vacancies/documents/VN-consultant-OOPC_fr.pdf (in French).