This award will cover the expected costs for NSF programs requiring Argos JTA service over the next 12 months. Argos is a satellite-based data collection and geo-location system dedicated to monitoring and protecting the environment. Any mobile platform carrying an Argos transmitter can be located anywhere in the world, and data from sensors connected to the transmitter can be collected, processed and distributed anywhere in the world. Location information is derived through Doppler or GPS. The types of platforms on which Argos transmitters are deployed varies widely, and includes ships, land stations, fixed data buoys, drifting buoys, and profiling floats. Among other things, these platforms provide valuable measurements of meteorological and oceanographic conditions such as monitoring the tropical Pacific Ocean for El Nino - La Nina events. Study of animal behavior is a growing application of Argos. Animals such as turtles, whales, sea lions, polar bears, elk, moose, reindeer, eagles, condors, etc., are among the many species being tracked. Very small transmitters weighing less than 20 grams are used to track birds. A recent type of high technology transmitter in use is the Pop-Up Satellite Archival Tag which records the movements of marine animals (tuna, eels, sharks, whales, etc.) below the surface. This type of tag will release from the animal weeks or months later, rise to the surface, and transmit the collected data. Thousands of Argos transmitters are in operation around the world. The Argos system has been operational since 1978. It was established under an agreement between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, USA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, USA), and the French Space Agency (CNES).
