The first Argo float delivered under PERSEUS's WP3 was successfully launched by RV “AKADEMIK” in the western Black Sea in Bulgarian Exclusive Economic Zone.

Deployment was made at 5:18 UTC by the Institute of oceanology - Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IO-BAS). The float is equipped with temperature, conductivity and DO sensors and will provide profiles up to 2000m depth every five days.

Data will be freely available on the Coriolis website.

This is the first of four Argo floats planned to be deployed in Black Sea under PERSEUS. The next two will be launched in the north west Black Sea by GeoEco Mar - Romania and Ukrainian hydrometeorological institute and the fourth in north east Black Sea by Shirshov institute of oceanology – Russian Academy of Sciences. They are the PERSEUS contribution to the improvement of the Black Sea observing system and will significantly extend the in-situ data from open sea. Currently the number of active Argo floats in the Black Sea is 11, which will reach 15 by the end of 2014.