![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/GliderpaloozaBody.jpg\" "\\"A")
A Rutgers glider heading out out for deployment (Credit: Rutgers University)<\/p><\/div>\n
All the gliders are Slocum Gliders, built by Teledyne Webb. \u00a0Willis said organizations did not plan on this. \u00a0She said it could be due the gliders\u2019 proven performance in shallower waters of the East Coast\u2019s continental shelf.\u00a0Teledyne Webb also won the Navy’s competition for operational use of gliders and National Science Foundation competition for gliders in support of the Ocean Observatories Initiative.<\/p>\n
Slocum Gliders maneuver through the water by varying their buoyancy. They move up and down in a zigzag pattern, which allows them to travel horizontally as they ascend and descend on forward angles.<\/p>\n
The autonomous underwater vehicles on this deployment will serve double duty. While they wait for a hurricanes or tropical storms to head toward the East Coast, the gliders will collect data related to other facets of their home organization\u2019s research.<\/p>\n
All the gliders have conductivity, temperature and depth sensors onboard. Some will be tracking the movements of tagged fish. Others are equipped with optical sensors to track algal blooms and other water quality parameters. Many also are equipped with acoustic Doppler current profilers to track water movement.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, there\u2019s always the possibility of failure during deployment. Several software fail safes are in place which can trigger an air bladder inside the glider causing it to float on the ocean\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n
Previous deployment during Hurricane Irene proved the perils a glider can face. \u00a0One of the Rutgers gliders deployed during that mission turned into a drifter after it lost a wing. \u201cWhen it lost that wing it popped back up to the surface and bobbed out there in the bad weather,\u201d Willis said.<\/p>\n
A fisherman and his son picked the glider up a few days later.<\/p>\n
The risk is worth it. Willis said the relatively fast development of gliders have changed the way researchers can measure the ocean. \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s really critical because we\u2019ve never been able to have a cost effective way to measure the three dimensional ocean,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Any hurricane heading toward the East Coast in the next month will face a picket line of gliders waiting to collect data on the whipping winds and turbulent sea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":14833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[60],"class_list":["post-14829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oceans-coasts","tag-featured"],"remote_post_permalink":false,"remote_post_featured_image":false,"yoast_head":"\n