We are working on a new glider campaign to measure oxygen and heat exchange in the Labrador Sea called HOTSeALS (Heat & Oxygen Transport Sensing Across the Labrador Sea). As part of this program we will deploy 2 gliders: Pearldiver and Gannet (formerly unit_473) and our Saibuoy (SB Beluga) into the Labrador Sea from the RSS James Cook this Fall. HOTSeALS will work closely together with TERIFIC – a UK based program (http://projects.noc.ac.uk/terific/) to also deploy gliders and Sailbuoy to measure similar water properties. These two programs will deliver high resolution surface and subsurface data (1000 m) of the strong mixing (deep convection) that takes place during the winter time in the Labrador Sea.
Together these data sets will answer questions about the amount of heat and oxygen exchanged between the Labrador Sea and the atmosphere, and enable us to track how quickly water properties in this basin change during the energetic mixing phase. This will be valuable to improve modeling of this region and also enable us to learn about better ways to observe the ocean in such harsh regions.
It is the intended that data from all these vehicles is made available to the Global Telecommunications System (GTS) as soon as they arrive on our servers so that they can benefit model forecasting around the world!
Glider News from the Sea 