NOAA Glider Expected To Be First to Cross Atlantic

Jennie Lyons,
NOAA National Ocean Service

May 13, 2009 — A bright-yellow submarine glider, launched into the cold waters off the New Jersey shore this spring, is on a 3,834-mile mission to assess exactly what lies beneath.

The 7-foot-long “Scarlet Knight” glider — named for the popular Rutgers University mascot — is expected to be the first underwater vehicle to cross the Atlantic Ocean. This historic undertaking is a joint effort of the NOAA-led Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), New Brunswick, N.J.-based Rutgers University and other regional partners.

If the Scarlet Knight can safely cross the Atlantic, it can be used with other ocean-observing systems to fill in data gaps that exist for global deep-water exploration. The IOOS glider program will continuously collect important data, providing scientists a fuller picture about the state of our oceans, coastal waters, and the Great Lakes.

''The launching is tremendously exciting because there is just so much that we don't really know about what happens in the oceans,'' said NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco in an Associated Press interview. ''The capacity to fly through the ocean, across the Atlantic, taking data about temperature, salinity and other properties of the water gives us keen insight into what's happening down there.”

The glider dives repeatedly to collect ocean and coastal data including temperature, salinity, and density. This makes it possible to predict what is likely to be living in those waters. Scientists also can program the glider to send data as often as they choose at any point during in glider’s journey.

That journey began 30 miles off the New Jersey coast on April 27, 2009. From there, the vehicle will surf currents to the Gulf Stream, travel south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and across the Mid-Atlantic Ridge before reaching Europe this fall. Ultimately, the insights gained from glider missions will better inform decisions about marine safety, the economy, and the environment. 

High-tech Subaquatic Flight

Directed by radio messages from Rutgers researchers, the unmanned glider can dive down to more than 650 feet and resurface using a battery-powered buoyancy pump. Fuel is not required — the glider is propelled by ocean currents and uses a rudder to steer its course. A satellite phone mounted in its tail calls in data to the Rutgers lab every few hours.

Made of aluminum with carbon-composite wings, the glider is coated with a special material that prevents algae, scum and barnacles from attaching to its outer surface. The growth of marine and plant life on the glider’s exterior could impose a “drag” on the vessel, slowing it significantly.

Turning a Corner in Ocean Exploration

The mission’s success will mark an important milestone in advancing ocean observation and exploration. Because gliders are often used with satellite imagery, radar systems, and sea-floor and buoy-mounted sensors, scientists can correlate all the findings to get a more detailed view of a particular ocean area.

“When we measure the ocean we need to do that in total,” said Zdenka Willis, NOAA IOOS program director. “Satellites overhead are critical for information on wide swaths of the ocean on the surface. Buoys give us both surface measurements and information on the water column [area between the water surface and ocean floor] below, but for just one location. The glider, however, allows us to measure the ocean column from top to bottom continuously as it travels, at relatively low cost.”

The engineering feat of crossing an ocean may transform how gliders can sample the world’s waters, allowing them to collect observations on significantly longer journeys.

“We’re constructing a vast, three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle,'' Dr. Lubchenco told the Associated Press. ''We have bits and pieces of the puzzle and we're building out from that.” The NOAA administrator added that every track the glider makes provides data to construct a more meaningful and dynamic picture of the world.  “We have only just begun to tap the potential that is here on Planet Ocean," she said.