Gliders as a Component of Future Observing Systems (original) (raw)

2010, Proceedings of OceanObs'09: Sustained Ocean Observations and Information for Society

The aim of this community white paper is to make recommendations for a glider component of a global ocean observing system. We first recommend the adoption of an Argo-like data system for gliders. Then, we argue that combining glider deployments with the other components (ships, moorings, floats and satellites) will considerably enhance our capacity for observing the ocean by filling gaps left by the other observing systems. Gliders could be deployed to sample most of the western and eastern boundary circulations and the regional seas (around 20 basins in the world) which are not well covered by the present global ocean observing system and in the vicinity of fixed point time series stations. These plans already involve people scattered around the world in Australia, and the USA, and will certainly expand to many other countries. A rough estimate of resources required is about 13M$/Euro for ~20+ gliders permanently at sea during five years in the world ocean, based on present scientific infrastructures.