The Polar Floats Program

The Polar Floats Program, an adaptation of midlatitude SOFAR float technology to the polar regions, is used to monitor subsurface circulation patterns over large spatial and temporal scales as well as to track mesoscale features in near realtime. The program is comprised of three major components that are now under development: an 80-Hz float transducer, American and French sea-ice-deployable listening stations using ARGOS data telemetry (ARS and SOFARGOS, respectively), and the software needed for real-time tracking. The adaptation of SOFAR technology to the planar regime demands modifications of the existing design from both environmental and acoustical standpoints. The authors describe the development and use of SOFAR technology within a relatively small sector of the north polar region that encompasses several thousand kilometers around Fram Strait (located between Greenland and Spitsbergen)