Final General Assembly – Paris, France – September 19, 2014 FP7-Infra : Design studies for European Research Infrastrutures 1st October 2011 – 31st December 2014 Duration 39 months – Periods : 2 (month 18 – month 39) Grant Agreement No: ; Total budget : 3,5 M€ 19 partners from cy, de, fr, gr, it, no, es, uk “Gliders for Research, Ocean Observation and Management” General Assembly

Final General Assembly – Paris, France – September 19, 2014 WP 4.1 / D4.1 The role of gliders in sustained observations of the ocean David Smeed (NOC), presented by Jan Kaiser (UEA)

Final General Assembly – Paris, France – September 19, 2014 WP1 Project S/T Coordination WP1 Project S/T Coordination WP4 Targeted Experiments WP4 Targeted Experiments WP5 Observatory Infrastructure WP5 Observatory Infrastructure WP3 Scientific Innovation WP3 Scientific Innovation WP2 Integration in the GOOS WP2 Integration in the GOOS WP2.1 Assessment of a glider component in the GOOS WP2.2 Legal framework WP2.3 Financial framework WP3.3 Capacity building and training, outreach WP3.2 Data flow and processing WP3.1 New contributions of glider for marine research WP4.2 Fleet missions WP4.1 Endurance lines WP5.3 Mission planning and analysis WP5.2 Glider payload assessment WP5.1 Ground segment description WP1.1 Project coordination WP5.4 Estimated setup and running costs WP1.2 Internal & external communication WP4.3 Synergies with other platforms WP6 Project Management WP6 Project Management

Final General Assembly – Paris, France – September 19, 2014 Sustained ocean observations Motivation Opportunities and challenges for glider technology Examples of sustained observations from gliders Conclusions

Final General Assembly – Paris, France – September 19, 2014 Motivation CLIVAR programme: "Maintain over many decades a sustained ocean observing system capable of detecting and documenting global climate change". Long-term perspective for climate research Long-term monitoring is a fundamental requirement of the European Union (EU) Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).

Final General Assembly – Paris, France – September 19, 2014 Sustained sub-surface observations Repeat sections, either hydrographic sections by research vessels; XBT sections from vessels of opportunity Fixed observatory sites – e.g. hydrographic data at Ocean Weather Ship Station (OWS) Mike in the Norwegian Sea since ARGO network of profiling floats

Final General Assembly – Paris, France – September 19, 2014 GO-SHIP reference sections

Final General Assembly – Paris, France – September 19, 2014 EuroSITES fixed point observatories

Final General Assembly – Paris, France – September 19, 2014 The ARGO programme

Final General Assembly – Paris, France – September 19, 2014 Opportunities and challenges for glider technology growing range of oceanographic sensors Argo profiling floats cannot sample at specific locations and little data is obtained on the continental slope GROOM partners have tested the capability of gliders to make sustained observations.

Final General Assembly – Paris, France – September 19, 2014 To provide more frequent sampling than is possible with available ship-time or budget. To obtain data with higher spatial resolution. To obtain data in real-time for data assimilation and for increased data security. Why use gliders?

Final General Assembly – Paris, France – September 19, projects by GROOM partners with glider trials or regular use for sustained observations In some cases, glider have replaced other platforms or enabled new programs to start In other cases they naturally found a niche and were combined with other platforms. But there are some cases where gliders were found to not yet be suitable or cost effective. Sustained observations by gliders in GROOM

Final General Assembly – Paris, France – September 19, 2014 Advantages –more frequent sampling per ship-time and budget –higher spatial resolution. –real-time data for assimilation and more data security Disadvantages –navigation in strong currents difficult –reliability –additional resources required –risks of collision with vessels Conclusions from GROOM missions

Final General Assembly – Paris, France – September 19, 2014 ships observations were biased to the summer months (see plot below) now: 3 years of quasi- continuous glider observations Example 1: The Balearic Channels in the western Mediterranean

Final General Assembly – Paris, France – September 19, 2014 RAPID requires continuous data, and the reliability of gliders was not sufficient to replace the moorings. Gliders effective for measuring near surface / very difficult with moored instruments Example 2: RAPID project at 26° N

Final General Assembly – Paris, France – September 19, 2014 The use of gliders is most successful when gliders can completely replace other platforms (e.g. Balearic Channel) there is easy access to deployment and recovery sites close to shore (e.g. Balearic Channel) it is only required to sample the upper 1000 m (e.g. shallow thermocline in the Mediterranean Sea; Ruiz et al., 2012). Conclusions 1

Final General Assembly – Paris, France – September 19, 2014 Types of sustained observation for which gliders are particularly well suited: real-time data thanks to glider data telemetry continental slope where Argo data are rare near surface where moored instruments are difficult to use Conclusions 2

Final General Assembly – Paris, France – September 19, 2014 Future needs include improved reliability (cf. APEX floats) increased depth capability (but: implies reduced repeat sampling frequency) increased endurance to increase repetition frequency and to make larger parts of the ocean accessible from individual glider ports Conclusions 3