Barents Sea monitoring with a SEA EXPLORER glider

摘要

The use of gliders in the Polar Regions offers clever and inexpensive methods for large scale monitoring and exploration. In August and September of 2014, a SEA EXPLORER glider successfully completed a 388 km mission in the central Barents Sea to monitor the physical and biological features over a transect between 72° 30' N and 74° 30' N latitude and between 32° E and 33° E longitude, as part of the European FP7 ACCESS project and in cooperation with the Institute of Marine Research, Norway. The paper discusses the performance of the SEA EXPLORER vehicle during the mission in Arctic waters. The behavior of the magnetic compass in close proximity to the magnetic north pole is described and its resulting impact on the flight of the glider. The reliability and robustness of the vehicle is evaluated for operations in these difficult conditions. This successful and cost-effective mission now opens the door to future opportunities to conduct repeat autonomous monitoring in the Barents Sea.