Argo Float Group Intern
By Edie Salzig ‘24
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Argo program is an international collaboration among 24 countries to monitor the world’s oceans. Almost 4,000 profiling scientific instruments (“floats”, seen below) measure temperature and salinity from the sea surface to 2000 meters deep. The data they send back are publicly available and essential to weather and climate modeling. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is a founding member of Argo.
A few of my projects:
- Compiled 177 US scientific grants that fund projects relating to Argo or Argo data to help advocate for funding
- Wrote MatLab code to extract and graph pressure readings from the floats to detect sensor drift before deployment
- Prepared floats for deployment (including flushing sensors, left picture)
- Communicated the importance of Argo to the public (center picture)
Some skills I have learned:
- MatLab, Teraterm, CAD software
- How to use a water jet, laser cutter, resin and heated extrusion 3D printers
- Assembly/disassembly of scientific equipment without damaging sealing surfaces
Overall, this was an amazing experience that helped me realize my love for problem-solving and desire to pursue mechanical engineering in graduate school!
Funding provided by the Wolfe Family Internship Fund.