Gliders/Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Gliders monitor water currents, temperature, and conditions that reveal effects from storms, impacts on fisheries, and the quality of our water. This information creates a more complete picture of what is happening in the ocean, as well as trends scientists might be able to detect. The robots collect information from deep water, as well as at the surface, at lower cost and less risk than ever before. As scientists deploy more gliders, they are revolutionizing how we observe our ocean. These robots propel us closer to that revolution.

 

5 types of Gliders: Slocum, Gulper, Spray, Seaglider and Wave

There are a number of different types of Gliders in use throughout the world’s oceans.

 

Glider, Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

Gliders are one type of Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

Overview

The warming of our planet directly impacts ocean temperature and how the ocean transports heat. Scientists can draw conclusions about our climate as they learn more about ocean conditions. Gliders are assuming a prominent and growing role in ocean science due to their unique capabilities for collecting data in remote locations, safely and at relatively low cost.

Glider underwater flight profile

Glider underwater flight profile

Each glider, based on its purpose and design, uses different techniques to propel itself forward.  What these gliders share is the ability to travel far distances, over long periods without servicing. It is these characteristics along with advancements in sensor technologies that are making gliders more and more important as tools for collecting ocean data.


Scarlet Night's Cross-Atlantic Journey

Plague - Scarlet Night's Journey from new Jersey to Spain

Plaque in Baiona, Spain, depicting Scarlet Night's journey from New Jersey to Spain

Scarlet Knight is an electric glider. That means it relied on battery power to do its work. But it didn’t use a lot. The robot crossed the ocean using the equivalent energy of about four Christmas tree lights. Scarlet Knight pumped water in through its nose to weigh itself down and dive into deeper water. To go back up, the glider pumped the water out again, causing it to weigh less and float toward the surface.

Program Update that shares the landing events of Scarlet Knight in Baiona, Spain, 8-9 December and reflect on the importance of this new technology:
Z-Gram, 12 December, 2009

 

 

 

Applications

Collectively U.S. IOOS regional and industry partners have flown over 15,000 glider days in the past three years.  Examples include:

  • In the Mid-Atlantic Regional Association Coastal Ocean Observing System (MARACOOS), gliders have been conducting regional surveys of the mid-Atlantic Bight.  The existence of the mid-Atlantic glider observatory has provided a unique test-bed for cyber-infrastructure tools being developed as part of the National Science Foundation’s Ocean Observatory Initiative (OOI).  MARACOOS has also teamed up with the Caribbean Regional Association to study the mixing processes in the coastal waters offshore Puerto Rico.

  • The Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System uses gliders to provide input to the Hawaii subsurface ocean model.  The glider provides the only measure of temperature and salinity below the mixed layer.

  • In 2010 the Alaska Ocean Observing system partner University of Alaska-Fairbanks flew 69 days of glider missions, covering 800 kilometers, to study the dynamics of the polar oceans.

  • Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System and Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System gliders have been used to augment the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations and continuously monitor coastal velocity, temperature, salinity and phytoplankton, and measure the influence of El Niño off the California coast.

  • The Great Lakes Observing System has provided funds to support an upgraded environmental sensor package carried aboard a glider system operating in Lake Superior by the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

  • The Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems is incorporating a glider into its new buoy array system launched in 2010 and has experimented with acoustic modems to track fish.

 

Glider Deployments

Challenger Mission: Rutgers

http://www.i-cool.org/?cat=77


Active MARACOOS deployments

http://marine.rutgers.edu/cool/auvs/


NANOOS/University of Washington

http://iop.apl.washington.edu/seaglider/


GLOS

http://glos.us/projects/observations


SCCOOS

http://www.sccoos.org/data/spray/?r=0

http://www.sccoos.org/data/spray/?r=gulf


CeNCOOS

http://www.cencoos.org/sections/data/glider/index.html



Gliders in Action


Visiting Rutgers Univ.

Learn about Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental Observation and Prediction and Deputy Administrator for NOAA, and Zdenka Willis, Director of the U.S. IOOS Program Office, meeting with Rutgers University science students and their professors during an IOOS Regional member site visit.