Oculus Coastal Glider : A New Shallow-water Oceanographic Glider

摘要

A new autonomous, underwater glider is presented that uses core technology from the University of Washington gliders and features a novel buoyancy engine for coastal profiling. This free-swimming, self-contained, 74 kg instrument is a companion to the 1000 m Seaglider and the 6000 m Deepglider, and was developed in partnership with NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. The Oculus Coastal Glider is specifically designed for shallow water operation (<;200 m) to meet NOAA observing requirements in the US Arctic by using a new buoyancy engine based on a hydraulic amplifier. The sensor suite on this initial deployment included conductivity-temperature-depth, photosynthetically active radiation, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll a fluorescence, colored dissolved organic matter, and backscatter. The Oculus Coastal Glider also has a new modular architecture that allows easy expansion to carry larger and higher power sensors in dedicated hull sections. We present the results of laboratory testing of the buoyancy system, system field testing in a fresh water lake (50 m), Puget Sound (200 m), and an initial science mission in the Bering Sea (70 m).