Argos in the News

ARGOS NEWS ARCHIVE

ARGOS IS A UNIQUE WORLDWIDE LOCATION & DATA COLLECTION SYSTEM DEDICATED TO STUDYING & PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT

ARGOS NEWS Archive

Argos satellite launch agreement between EUMETSAT and CNES

EUMETSAT’s Director-General, Alain Ratier, and Jean-Yves Le Gall, President of CNES, have signed a cooperation agreement on the ARGOS Data Collection System, which is to be included in the payload of the Metop-SG satellites of the EUMETSAT Polar System of Second Generation (EPS-SG).

The agreement was signed in the presence of Christophe Vassal, chairman of the Collecte Localisation Satellites (CLS) Board, the operator of ARGOS and a subsidiary formed by CNES and the French Ifremer institute in 1986, which—like EUMETSAT—is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. ARGOS receivers provided by CNES are already flying on board the current generation of EUMETSAT’s Metop satellites where they collect in situ observations of the three-dimensional ocean, acquired by buoys, profiling floats and other automated devices. The new agreement will ensure the continuation of these vital data into the 2022-2040 timeframe.

You can read the rest of the article on SatNews here: http://www.satnews.com/story.php?number=187953004.

American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting

Thomas Gray from CLS America has an oral presentation at the annual American Fisheries Society meeting in Kansas City, MO. His presentation will focus on showing how the system works, how users access satellite transmitted data, and review new products and services that we offer. In addition, he will have the Argos Goniometer with him to demonstrate to interested parties. This message will be updated with a link to the powerpoint presentation after the conference. Meanwhile, you can review the session and presentations here (click here for the link).

Florida Charter Boat Captains Challenged to Set Up for Better Fishery Management

If you’re a Florida fisherman, or for that matter Gulf of Mexico fishermen, then you know that for year after year, there has been a need for more data, better data and more timely data. In short, a better data collection system to better manage the Gulf’s vast array of fisheries. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), the Gulf Seafood Institute (GSI) and CLS America Corporation have teamed up to implement a two-year, federally-funded voluntary electronic logbook program for data collection in the Gulf of Mexico by the Gulf’s federally permitted charter-for-hire fishing fleet.

American Meteorological Society (AMS) awards the 2015 AMS/CLS America Undergraduate Scholarship to top student with an outstanding academic record

CLS America is a long term member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and is a proud sponsor of the AMS Undergraduate Scholarship Program. From the many scholarship applications submitted this year by outstanding students throughout the country, we are pleased to announce that Daniel T. Martin has been chosen for the 2015 AMS/CLS America, Inc. Undergraduate Scholarship by the AMS Scholarships Selection Committee. This scholarship is one of a total fourteen awarded this year by the AMS.

This Fall Daniel will be entering his freshman year of undergraduate studies at Western Kentucky University where he will major in meteorology. From Independence, Kentucky, Daniel graduated from Walton-Verona High School in Walton, KY with an outstanding academic record.

CLS America congratulates Daniel on this exciting award and sends our best wishes for a successful college experience at WKU!

Tiger sharks: Argos reveals the tiger shark's "marathon" migration

Tiger sharks, an IUCN ‘near-threatened’ species, are widely believed to be a coastal species. But in an article published in Scientific Reports on June 9th, 2015, scientists James Lea and Brad Wetherbee, Ph.D., of Nova Southeastern University’s Guy Harvey Research Institute, and their co-authors, reported otherwise.

Up to three years of Argos satellite tracking data revealed that the 24 tiger sharks studied travel nearly 7,500 km/year on average, from the Caribbean Islands where they spend the winter to the North Atlantic where they spend the summer.

View Argos tracking map: Tiger Sharks Bermuda 2011-2013

Not only was the distance travelled by the sharks surprising, but also the diversity in habitat they used, from the Caribbean’s coral reefs to the mid-North Atlantic’s open waters.

This is the first truly comprehensive study of tiger sharks’ behavior over long periods of time (up to three years). While the scientists have yet to draw their conclusions, these incredible datasets relayed by the Argos system will surely lead to better management decisions for the protection of this species over time.

For more information :

Repeated, long-distance migrations by a philopatric predator targeting highly contrasting ecosystems by James S. E. Lea, Bradley M. Wetherbee, Nuno Queiroz, Neil Burnie, Choy Aming, Lara L. Sousa, Gonzalo R. Mucientes, Nicolas E. Humphries, Guy M. Harvey, David W. Sims & Mahmood S. Shivji Full article

Ocean conservationists and celebs join global campaign to protect Great Barrier Reef

Ocean conservationists including Argos user Nan Hauser launch a global campaign to protect the Australian Great Barrier Reef.

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven natural wonders in the world, and home to 400 species of coral and 1.500 species of fish including the rare dugongs and snubfin dolphins.

Prominent marine conservationists including Nan Hauser are calling for a better protection of this vulnerable ecosystem in a new video released by WWF. The video includes participation of Sylvia Earle and even Jacques Cousteau’s grandson Philippe Cousteau.

The campaign has lead the UNESCOS’s World Heritage Committee (which debated on the subject this 2th of July in Bonn, Germany) to vote to maintain pressure on Australia, which is required to deliver “effective and sustained protection” of the reef from threats including reckless industrialization and pollution.

With the acquisition of Horizon Marine Inc., CLS has entered the market for serives to the offshore oil industry

CLS Group has staked out a position in the Gulf of Mexico by purchasing Horizon Marine Inc., the American specialist in services to offshore oil companies, and thus broadened its offer to oil and gas operators.

CLS Group Press Release

Horizon Marine Inc. Press Release

Reconnecting the Ocean: Satellite Tracking Reveals Green Sea Turtle Migrations Link Eastern Pacific Ocean Coastal Waters

A recent publication in the journal PLOS describes two decades of Argos satellite telemetry research on green sea turtle migrations in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Sea turtles traveled up to 3,000 km during the study, navigating the coastal waters of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador.

A multinational team of researchers from Mexico, the U.K. and the U.S. tracked the movements of green turtles throughout one of the most productive and biodiverse ocean regions on the planet and combined their data with additional information from flipper tags, fisheries interactions, and oceanographic observations.

The scientists concluded that waters along the Pacific coast of the Americas must be safeguarded to ensure the long distance migrations of these ancient reptiles continue.

Direct hunting of the turtles for their meat, skin, and eggs as well as bycatch in a variety of fishing gears including long lines, gill nets and bottom trawls, remain the strongest threats to the endangered sea turtles.

Decades of grassroots conservation efforts are yielding early signs of success with green turtle numbers on the rise and understanding how these animals connect distant beaches, coastal ecosystems and human well-being is critical.