Are Argo probe data used for numerical weather prediction (NWP)?
One of the issues with ARGO data is that in most cases it does not provide data from the real surface of the ocean. When they ascend from their drifting depth (usually at 1000 or 2000 meters) to the surface, most of them stop recording at a depth of around 5 meters from the surface. From SeaBird (the company that provides the CTD sensors in most ARGO floats, SSalOceanSciencesMar08-5Pages.pdf‎): "...to avoid degrading the salinity accuracy by ingesting sea surface contaminants, the pump is turned off at approximately 5 decibars beneath the surface as the Argo float ascends." This creates problems when assimilating into atmospheric models because of inconsistencies between the satellite-derived sea surface temperature and the ARGO temperature at 5 meters. To address this issue and provide better surface flux information, some ARGO floats are equipped with a second temperature and salinity sensor (STS) that only measures in the proximity of the surface.