In recent years, profiling floats, which form the basis of the successful international Argo observatory, are also being considered as platforms for marine biogeochemical research. This study showcases the utility of floats as a novel tool for combined gas measurements of CO 2 partial pressure ( pCO 2 ) and O 2 . These float prototypes were equipped with a small-sized and submersible pCO 2 sensor and an optode O 2 sensor for highresolution measurements in the surface ocean layer. Four consecutive deployments were carried out during November 2010 and June 2011 near the Cape Verde Ocean Observatory (CVOO) in the eastern tropical North Atlantic. The profiling float performed upcasts every 31 h while measuring pCO 2 , O 2 , salinity, temperature, and hydrostatic pressure in the upper 200 m of the water column. To maintain accuracy, regular pCO 2 sensor zeroings at depth and surface, as well as optode measurements in air, were performed for each profile. Through the application of data processing procedures (e.g., time-lag correction), accuracies of floatborne pCO 2 measurements were greatly improved (10-15 matm for the water column and 5 matm for surface measurements). O 2 measurements yielded an accuracy of 2 mmol kg
21. First results of this pilot study show the possibility of using profiling floats as a platform for detailed and unattended observations of the marine carbon and oxygen cycle dynamics.