Respond to NSF RFI on Future Ocean Observing Priorities by Sept. 30, 2026

The National Science Foundation is asking the US research community to weigh in on what should be prioritized in NSF-funded ocean observing. Please respond strongly and quickly to the NSF DCL-RFI, which specifically calls out  GO-BGC for comment.   

NSF is by far the largest international funding source for long-term in situ BGC-Argo ocean observations, through GO-BGC and SOCCOM.  The global BGC Argo array is existentially threatened by the end of GO-BGC and will immediately begin to decay in 2027. This is of critical (crisis) importance to SOCCOM, which pioneered hemisphere-wide BGC Argo deployments.

SOCCOM, funded by NSF Polar Programs since 2014, created the structures and protocols that were foundational to the global GO-BGC program (2021 start). SOCCOM science – on carbon, greening, sea ice response –  is structured to rely on continuing GO-BGC float deployments.  The current number of SOCCOM floats per year is intentionally too low to sustain the Southern Ocean array – current SOCCOM NSF funding presumes the ongoing existence of GO-BGC or another US federal funding source for BGC-Argo.

Without GO-BGC, Southern Ocean BGC Argo coverage will begin to thin.  This will severely impact our now-existing ability to track decadal and interannual change in oean carbon, oxygen, and productivity in the Southern Ocean. These data are central to BGC ocean data assimilation, and the capability to validate carbon in oean carbon, oxygen, and productivity in the Southern Ocean. These data are central to BGC ocean data assimilation, and the capability to validate carbon and ocean productivity in Earth System Models.