RAPID: Long-duration AUVs as tools to explore Mesoscale feature-Aggregate Interactions (MAGI)

海洋的偏远地区很难取样以获得短暂或偶发的特征。该项目将使用一个新的采样平台，波浪滑翔机，并在北太平洋环流中心提供持续的存在。为期六个月的使命将允许重复采样以及空间覆盖以前无法实现。这一使命将包括浮游植物特异性传感器以及一套光学传感器，这些传感器将提供关于独特的浮游生物-固氮蓝藻共生体的分布、生理和聚集的信息。完成后，该程序将生成第一批数据集，这些数据集将跟踪该地区长时间的硅藻水华。PacX挑战赛促进了这一仪器的使用，这是一项国际竞赛，旨在从北太平洋和南太平洋的长时间自动驾驶车辆中进行高质量的研究。由于赢得了这场比赛，首席研究员被授予在2014年使用6个月的Honey Badger Wave Glider时间。波浪滑翔机是一种波浪动力水面舰艇，能够执行长时间任务。为了最大限度地发挥这一作用，首席研究员将为滑翔机配备先进的传感器，以量化太平洋中尺度特征沿着硅藻活动和聚集的强烈区域（MAGI项目：中尺度特征-聚集体相互作用）。该计划将招募一名西班牙裔研究生，从而解决NSF对增加STEM多样性的兴趣。这项研究工作将开发一个新的采样平台，展示有能力同时对物理环境进行采样，并获得浮游植物重要组成部分的相关生理数据。该项目将通过创建一个基于网络的数据演示来吸引公众，这些数据将在网络上以及德克萨斯大学奥斯汀海洋科学中心游客中心的公共大屏幕上显示（每年40，000多名游客）。数据的可用性还将允许创建用于课堂使用的特定教育练习和教师研讨会，并创建与国家教育基准相一致的海洋概念教学计划。

Remote areas of the ocean are difficult to sample for short-lived or episodic features. This project will use a new sampling platform, the Wave Glider, and provide a continuous presence in the central North Pacific gyre. The six month duration of the mission will allow repeated sampling as well as spatial coverage previously unavailable. This mission will incorporate phytoplankton specific sensors as well as a set of optical sensors that will provide information on distribution, physiology and aggregation of a unique diatom-nitrogen fixing cyanobacterium symbiosis. When completed, this program will have generated the first data sets that follow these diatom blooms over extended periods in the region. Access to this instrumentation was facilitated by the PacX challenge, an international competition to produce high quality research from long-duration autonomous vehicles in the North and South Pacific Ocean. As a result of winning that competition, the principal investigator has been awarded the use of 6 months of the Honey Badger Wave Glider time in 2014. The Wave Glider is a wave-powered surface vessel capable of extended duration missions. In order to maximize this the principal investigator will outfit the glider with advanced sensors to quantify zones of intense diatom activity and aggregation along mesoscale features in the Pacific (Project MAGI: Mesoscale feature-AGregate Interactions). This program will recruit a Hispanic graduate student and thus address the NSF's interest in increasing STEM diversity. This research effort will develop a novel sampling platform that demonstrates the ability to sample the physical environment simultaneously with relevant physiological data on important components of the phytoplankton. The project will engage the public by creating a web-based presentation of the data that will be available both on the web as well as in a public large screen display in the University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Center visitor center (40,000+ visitors per year). The availability of the data will also allow for the creation of specific educational exercises for classroom use and workshops for teachers and create programs that teach marine concepts aligned with state educational benchmarks.