Until the 1940s, for example, ships typically measured the sea's temperature by dunking a thermometer into a bucket of sea water.

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It is a collaborative partnership of more than 30 nations from all continents, all working together to provide a seamless global array of over 3, 000 profiling floats moving up and down in the water column from the sea surface to 2, 000 meters and measuring temperature, salinity, and depth during every ascent to the sea surface.

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In addition to a sea floor mapping project, the researchers will make chemical analyses of water samples that will help them determine the temperature, salinity and composition of a strong circumpolar current that flows around the boundary of the Arctic Ocean.

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