A team led by Marcel Babin, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Remote Sensing of Canada's New Arctic Frontier at Université Laval, has been pioneering Argo drone technology to track the impacts of climate change in the Arctic.
In 2000, the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and the World Meteorological Organisation launched a number of Argo drones (or “floats”) to create a network of beacons around the world. Together, the beacons make up an integrated, global ocean-observing system.
The Université Laval Argo is one of the first floats in this system to operate in the extreme conditions of the Arctic Ocean. There, it is plunging to depths of almost 2,000 metres to collect data about marine organisms. As a result, Babin and his research team are collecting previously inaccessible information that will improve our understanding about the Arctic marine ecosystem, and help researchers track the effects of climate change.
Find out more about the Université Laval Argo research project (French only) and Takuvik, the joint international laboratory headed by Babin.