Argo is an international program that calls for the deployment of 3,000 free drifting profiling floats, distributed over the global oceans, which will measure the temperature and salinity in the upper 2,000 m of the ocean providing 100,000 T/S profiles and reference velocity measurements per year.  This will allow continuous monitoring of the climate state of the ocean, with all data being relayed and made publicly available within hours after collection.   Argo is an element of:   Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), Climate Variability and Predictability Experiment (CLIVAR), and Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE).

Official versions of Argo data lie on the Global Data Centers (GODAE and IFREMER) and the Argo Information Centre is the official site for information and support about the Argo program.