Collaborative Research: Underwater Gliders for Monitoring Western Boundary Currents

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole MA

Investigators

Abstract

0220769/0220930 Owens/Davis This collaborative project between Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Scripps Institution of Oceanography will demonstrate the feasibility of using an autonomous underwater glider to monitor the structure and strength of western boundary currents. During the first year of the proposed work the reliability of the glider will be demonstrated in a less severe environment. During the ensuing years, the complexity and duration of the glider missions will be increased as we begin deploying them to make transects between the New England continental shelf and Bermuda. The choice of the Gulf Stream as the initial boundary current to be investigated was made for obvious logistical reasons. The gliders will provide cross-sections of velocity, temperature and salinity between the surface and 1000-1500 m depths which will be available in real-time. These data will be combined to provide approximately monthly estimates of the relative and potential vorticity of the Gulf Stream and its fluxes of heat and salt. The broader impact of this research will be in providing a new autonomous oceanographic instrument platform and observational techniques that will, first of all, be applicable to all other western boundary current including those believed to be crucial for predicting climate variability. Beyond that this instrument will find application in coastal zone monitoring for pollution and living resources, for military surveillance and as a general tool for oceanographic observation.