Photos: Floating computers keep an eye on the oceans

The Met Office is taking part in a global programme to monitor the world's oceans to improve understanding of how they influence climate change.

The Argo programme uses thousands of floating devices like the one pictured, which provide continuous data from even the remotest parts of the world's oceans.

The Met Office manages the UK part of the programme and has deployed around 230 Argo floats to date. It works in partnership with the British Oceanographic Data centre, National Oceanography Centre in Southampton and the UK Hydrographic Office.

Photo credit: University of California, San Diego (UCSD)