KEY POINTS:
Minister of Research, Science and Technology Steve Maharey wasn't sure how to officially launch a robotic float but the crew of the RV Kaharoa were on hand yesterday to assist.
The floats are the ocean equivalent of weather balloons and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) vessel will release the 3000th float, in a global project called Argo, on a trip from Wellington to Chile.
Mr Maharey helped dip the float in Wellington harbour and it was retrieved for a proper launch later.
Many of the floats are launched by commercial vessels but Niwa agreed to help, particularly in the southern Pacific where there were not many commercial vessels, said Professor Dean Roemmich, from Scripps Institute of Oceanography in San Diego and co-chairman of the International Argo Steering Group.
The floats launched by Niwa had provided some of the most interesting information collected by the project.
Niwa has launched 439 floats for the global project and on one occasion, on a voyage to Mauritius, the Kaharoa was boarded by pirates.
Most of the floats launched by Niwa are paid for by the United States - they cost about $20,000 each - and US ambassador William McCormick attended yesterday's ceremony to reflect on the co-operation between the two countries on the project.
The floats, which stay in the sea for up to five years, are pre-programmed.
They drop to 1000m and drift at that depth for about nine days then drop to 2000m before surfacing and transmitting information on ocean currents, temperature and salinity, helping the understanding of climate change.
The Argo Project
* Argo is a global array of 3000 free-drifting profiling floats that measure the temperature and salinity of the upper 2000m of the ocean.
* This allows continuous monitoring of the temperature, salinity, and velocity of the upper ocean, with all data being relayed and made publicly available within hours after collection.
* In Greek mythology, Argo was the ship in which Jason and the Argonauts set sail to search for the golden fleece.
- NZPA
