Plans to centralize OceanGliders data under a unique portal is underway. This must be simultaneous with a format harmonization process between those data assembly center.
IOOS Glider DAC is providing the gliders data management services for US glider groups and North American gliders groups who benefit from an official agreement. For further details, see : https://gliders.ioos.us/data/# or contact glider.dac.support@noaa.gov
Observational data on temperature and salt content was collected from gliders, floats, ship cruises, and a mooring array. Using a combination of new instruments to study particularly challenging processes such as convection could offer a new approach to ocean observation. This is an introductory paper to a JGR-Oceans Special Section entitled “Dense water formations in the North Western Mediterranean: from the physical forcings to the biogeochemical consequences”.
Many processes in the ocean operate on horizontal scales of less than 10km and changes occur in hours. The “submesoscale” dynamics are important contributors to the ocean dynamical state and have been identified to be of crucial importance for biogeochemical and biological processes in the ocean.
Many processes in the ocean operate on horizontal scales of less than 10km and changes occur in hours. The “submesoscale” dynamics are important contributors to the ocean dynamical state and have been identified to be of crucial importance for biogeochemical and biological processes in the ocean.
The time and space scales of sampling of underwater gliders, in combination with the variety of different sensors, make gliders an important, even essential, observing platform for submesoscale studies and continuous assessments of their role in the ocean circulation and ecosystem. Over the last decade a remarkable number of articles on submesoscale dynamics based on underwater glider data has been published (Liblik et al. 2016). The importance of Submesoscale Coherent Vortices, filaments along fronts and around mesoscale eddies, and induced vertical movement, has been demonstrated from ground truth and their impact can now be monitored on the long term in key regions with gliders.
Underwater glider do sample the vertical structure of the ocean with unprecedented high resolution along the horizontal and transmit the observational data in near real-time. This remote access to observational data that resolves the submesoscale can improve forecasting the ocean dynamics, biogeochemistry and ecosystem. The glider data is a perfect match for regional/coastal numerical models and societal applications greatly benefit from glider data being assimilated in models providing thereby ocean state estimates at these scales with much increased accuracy.
References:
Karstensen et al.: Upwelling and isolation in oxygen-depleted anticyclonic modewater eddies and implications for nitrate cycling, Biogeosciences, 14, 2167-2181, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-2167-2017, 2017.
Bosse et al.: Scales and dynamics of submesoscale coherent vortices formed by deep convection in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea, J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 121, 7716–7742, doi:10.1002/2016JC012144., 2016.
Bosse, A., P. Testor, N. Mayot, L. Prieur, F. D’Ortenzio, H. Lavigne, V. Taillandier, H. Le Goff, C. Gourcuff, L. Coppola, P. Raimbault., L. Mortier, A submesoscale coherent vortex in the Ligurian Sea: From dynamical barriers to biological implications, Journal Of Geophysical Research-Oceans, 122, 6196-6217, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2016JC012634
Liblik et al.: Potential for an underwater glider component as part of the Global Ocean Observing System, Methods in Oceanography, 17, 50-82, DOI: 10.1016/j.mio.2016.05.001, 2016.
