Collaborative Research: Underwater Gliders for Monitoring Western Boundary Currents

欧文斯/戴维斯伍兹霍尔海洋研究所和斯克里普斯海洋研究所之间的合作项目将展示使用自主水下滑翔机监测西部边界洋流结构和强度的可行性。在提议工作的第一年，滑翔机的可靠性将在一个不太恶劣的环境中进行验证。在接下来的几年里，随着我们开始部署滑翔机在新英格兰大陆架和百慕大之间进行横断面飞行，滑翔机任务的复杂性和持续时间将会增加。选择墨西哥湾流作为最初的边界流进行研究显然是出于后勤方面的原因。这些滑翔机将提供水面和1000-1500米深度之间的速度、温度和盐度的横截面数据，这些数据将实时提供。这些数据将结合起来，提供墨西哥湾流的相对和潜在涡度及其热盐通量的大约每月估计。这项研究的更广泛的影响将是提供一个新的自主海洋仪器平台和观测技术，首先，这些技术将适用于所有其他西部边界流，包括那些被认为对预测气候变化至关重要的洋流。除此之外，这一仪器将用于沿海地区的污染和生物资源监测、军事监视和作为海洋观测的一般工具。

0220769/0220930 Owens/DavisThis 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.