UK contribution to the international Bio-Argo Network.

Despite its importance in regulating the climate and sustaining life on Earth, the ocean is a largely under sampled
and unknown ecosystem. This ignorance is preventing us from accurately predicting how ocean biology and
biogeochemical cycles will respond to the ongoing climate warming.

Observations are key to understanding. Satellite data have revealed previously unknown mechanisms, but are
limited because they can only detect surface processes and estimate a limited set of biogeochemical parameters.
Ship measurements can overcome these limitations, but are constrained by extremely high costs and thus
severely limited in spatio-temporal coverage.

A network of Bio-Argo floats will complement satellite and ship measurements and synergistically allow us to
monitor biogeochemical variables over sustained periods of time. For the first time, scientists will be able to exploit sustained observations to understand biogeochemical processes occurring in the deeper layers of the
water column. The first Bio-Argo floats are already fundamentally changing our understanding of ocean biology
and biogeochemistry (Bishop et al., 2002, 2004; Riser and Johnson, 2008; Johnson et al., 2010; Boss and
Behrenfeld, 2010). This new understanding, in turn, will improve ocean biogeochemical models and long term
predictions of the feedbacks between ocean biogeochemical cycles and Earth Climate. Improved predictions will
then inform policies. As such, the requested assets will boost NERC's science on marine ecosystems, global
biogeochemical cycles and Earth's climate predictions.

The ability to sustain biogeochemical observations in the Atlantic ocean over time and space will expand the
scope of the Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) cruise. In addition, the new data on vertically-resolved
biogeochemical variables and rates will naturally feed into NERC supported biogeochemical modelling and data
assimilation activities. Finally, the novel data will significantly complement existing NCEO activities on ocean colour
remote sensing by allowing us to extend the surface satellite data into three-dimensional observation fields.
The Plymouth Marine Laboratory hosts recognized international experts in marine optics and its application to
ocean biology and biogeochemistry. This knowledge will be fundamental to assess the quality and interpret the
bio-optical data collected by Bio-Argo floats and will be used to convert the optical proxies into biogeochemically relevant variables that will be distributed to the wider UK and international communities.

The growing European Bio-Argo network is already exploiting data from Bio-Argo floats as a tool to spread
knowledge of the ocean to the younger generations. One of the most promising initiatives is the "Adopt a float"
programme in which pupils learn about oceanography by following a Bio-Argo float during its entire scientific life.
Such initiative could easily be expanded to UK schools and could result in exchanges of knowledge and
experiences between international schools through the social media. All these initiatives will result in younger
generations with greater interest and respect for the ocean.