NOAA/AOML - CARICOOS Hurricane Underwater Gliders
A partnership between NOAA, CARICOOS, University of Miami, University of Puerto Rico, IOOS, and Autoridad Nacional de Asuntos Maritimos of the Dominican Republic
AOML's Physical Oceanography Division, the Caribbean Coastal Ocean Observing System (CARICOOS), and NOAA's Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) are leading a multi-institutional effort that brings together the research and operational components within NOAA and the university community to implement and carry out sustained and targeted ocean observations from underwater gliders in the Caribbean Sea and southwestern tropical North Atlantic Ocean. The upper ocean thermal structure in this region has been linked to rapid intensification of tropical cyclones, and to the seasonal Atlantic hurricane activity. However, there are only few (<300) upper ocean thermal observations carried out per year in this region.
Goal: The goal of this work is to enhance our understanding of air-sea interaction processes during hurricane force wind events. In order to accomplish this goal, the network of hurricane underwater gliders was implemented to:
- Assess the impact of hurricane force winds on upper ocean density structure, and
- Assess the impact of ocean profile data from underwater gliders in hurricane intensity forecasts
The work carried out by this project provides between 6,000-10,000 profile observations of each observed parameter (e.g temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll concentration). AOML-CARICOOS Underwater Gliders are officially part of the NOAA Hurricane Research Division tropical Atlantic Hurricane Field Program.
The red lines indicate the approximate track of the upcoming deployments on the week of July 14, 2014. Tracks of Cat. 1-5 cyclones (in grey) in a region of the Atlantic Warm Pool during 1993-2011, with circles indicating the location of their intensification. The background color is the Tropical Cyclone Heat Potential (proportional to the upper ocean heat content).
For additional information about this project please contact Dr. Gustavo Goni.
07/22/2016 - Mission 5 Starts: Two gliders (SG609 and SG630) were successfully deployed in the Caribbean Sea on June 21, 2016. The deployment marks the beginning of the 2016 Atlantic Hurricane Season deployment. Two more gliders are expected to be deployed in the tropical North Atlantic as part of the Hurricane season operations. AOML-CARICOOS Underwater Gliders are officially part of the NOAA Hurricane Research Division tropical Atlantic Hurricane Field Program.
06/04/2016 - Mission 4 Completed: Mission successfully completed on June 2, 2016. Over 1,500 profile observations were collected in the Caribbean Sea during this mission.
03/11/2016 - Mission 4 Starts: Two gliders (SG609 and SG617) were in the Caribbean Sea on March 10, 2016. Gliders are expected to be recovered late May.
11/18/2015 - Underwater gliders recovered: Both underwater gliders, SG609 and SG10, were recovered on the Caribbean Sea and Tropical North Atlantic after the successful completion of the hurricane season underwater glider mission. During this mission, over 2,600 temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen profiles were collected.
08/11/2015 - Science highlight: In a recent manuscript by Domingues et al. (2015), observations collected by glider SG609 before, during, and after the passage of Hurricane Gonzalo (2014) were analyzed to improve our understanding of the upper ocean response to hurricane winds. this study is that salinity potentially played an important role on changes observed in the upper ocean; a near-surface barrier layer likely suppressed the hurricane-induced upper ocean cooling, leading to smaller than expected temperature changes. Additional details can be found here [pdf].
07/15/2015 - Hurricane Season Glider Mission starts: Two underwater gliders, SG609 and SG10, have been successfully deployed on the Caribbean Sea and Tropical North Atlantic, marking the start of the hurricane underwater glider mission (Mission 03). Near-real time location of the gliders and plots of latest observations can be found here
04/27/2015 - Underwater gliders recovered: Both underwater gliders, SG609 and SG10, have been successfully recovered on the Caribbean Sea on April 27. This completes Mission 02 after the collection of over 2,000 (two thousand) temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen profiles.
02/06/2015 - Underwater gliders deployed: Both underwater gliders, SG609 and SG10, have been successfully deployed on the Caribbean Sea on February 6. For this mission, a new sensor to measure dissolved oxygen concentration was installed on both gliders. Near-real time location of the gliders and plots of latest observations can be found here
11/20/2014 - Underwater gliders recovered: Both underwater gliders, SG609 and SG10, have been successfully recovered on the North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea on November 18, and November 19, respectively. The recovery marks the completion of their first mission, with over 2,800 temperature and salinity profiles collected.
07/20/2014 - Underwater gliders deployed: Two underwater gliders have been successfully deployed off from Puerto Rico for their fist mission. The glider SG610 has been deployed in the Caribbean Sea on July 14, 2014, while the glider SG609 has been deployed on the North Atlantic Ocean on July 19, 2014. Near-real time location of the gliders and latest temperature and salinity observations can be found here
03/25/2014 - 1st Underwater Gliders Working Group Meeting: The first project meeting took place at AOML on March 25, 2014. The meeting addressed operational components of the project. Basic instructions on the deployment and recovery strategies have been provided to project members during a sea trial on March 26, 2014.