Abstract:

A Slocum glider was deployed in the eastern Gulf of Mexico off Tampa Bay, Florida in February and March 2017. As the glider traversed its transit path, it collected measurements at various depths from ~2 m to near the seafloor or up to 200 m. While the glider was deployed at sea, it surfaced and communicated to an onshore control station at predetermined intervals. A decimated selection of vehicle and science measurement is transmitted during these surface transmissions, and the relevant data becomes available through a University of South Florida (USF) website. After the glider’s recovery at the end of the deployment, the complete measurement suite was downloaded from the vehicle and processed and made available through the USF site including a national data archive. The measurements in this data set included conductivity, temperature, depth, chlorophyll and gelbstoff fluorescence, and dissolved O2. Other data sets for this deployment include acoustic tag telemetry receiver detections, passive acoustic recordings, and echosounder water column data. The glider was deployed on 2017-02-14 at the 30 m isobath. It traversed for a week to the west-southwest before turning around and returning along a similar route to the east-northeast before turning to the southeast. It was recovered on 2017-03-09. The intent was for the glider to traverse across the western Florida shelf to the 160 m isobath and then follow the progression of the Gulfstream Natural Gas Pipeline, collecting water quality and acoustic data sets. The suite of related datasets includes results from gliders M66, M69, M70, and M72. Glider M66: water quality variables (FL.x707.000:0001, https://doi.org/10.7266/N72N50PF), tag telemetry (FL.x707.000:0002, https://doi.org/10.7266/n7-ccc2-s109), and echosounder backscatter intensity (FL.x707.000:0003, https://doi.org/10.7266/n7-9yq5-w169). Glider M69: water quality variables (FL.x707.000:0004, https://doi.org/10.7266/n7-n30g-bw27), tag telemetry (FL.x707.000:0005, https://doi.org/10.7266/n7-406m-ak69), echosounder backscatter intensity (FL.x707.000:0007, https://doi.org/10.7266/n7-4skm-bj34), and passive acoustic recordings (FL.x707.000:0006, https://doi.org/10.7266/n7-5y6c-sj73). Glider M70: water quality variables (FL.x707.000:0010, https://doi.org/10.7266/g51f95wz) and tag telemetry (FL.x707.000:0008, https://doi.org/10.7266/p2ymsrp4). Glider M72: water quality variables (FL.x707.000:0011, https://doi.org/10.7266/ehj8evgw) and tag telemetry (FL.x707.000:0009, https://doi.org/10.7266/9va17amx).

Suggested Citation:

Lembke, Chad, David Mann, Susan Lowerre-Barbieri, Chris Taylor, and Steven Murawski. 2025. Eastern Gulf of Mexico glider deployment M70 (2017-02-14 – 2017-03-09) - water quality variables. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/g51f95wz

Publications:

Lembke, C., Lowerre-Barbieri, S., Mann, D., & Taylor, J. C. (2018). Using Three Acoustic Technologies on Underwater Gliders to Survey Fish. Marine Technology Society Journal, 52(6), 39–52. https://doi.org/10.4031/mtsj.52.6.1

Purpose:

Demonstration of fisheries-applicable datasets obtained by underwater gliders, including tag telemetry receivers, passive acoustic recordings, and echosounder derived water column acoustic backscatter.

Data Parameters and Units:

Commanded volume of buoyancy pumped [cc], Commanded position of the battery [in], Commanded heading [rad], Height above the bottom [m], Avg climbing rate [m/s], Avg. depth rate of change, where > 0 is down [m/s], Avg. diving rate [m/s], Avg. speed [m/s], Measured volume of buoyancy pumped [cc], Battery [volts], Measured position of the battery [in], Glider depth [m], Rate of change of depth [m/s], Final Rate of change of depth [m/s]), GPS Magnetic heading [rad], Latitude [lat]), Longitude [lon], GPS Magnetic variation [rad], GPS speed over ground [m/s], Measured heading [rad], Latitude [lat], Longitude [lon], Mission Avg. speed climbing [m/s], Mission Avg. speed diving [m/s], Measured vehicle pitch [rad], Seconds since 1/1/1970 [timestamp], Measured vehicle roll [rad], Speed [m/s], Measured internal vacuum (inHg), Water depth (m_depth + m_altitude) [m], Water current components VX [m/s], Water current components VY [(m/s]), Backscattering-reference [nodim], Backscattering-calculated [nodim], Backscattering-counts [nodim], CDOM-reference [nodim], CDOM-calculated [ppb], CDOM-counts [nodim], Chlorophyll-reference [nodim], Chlorophyll-calculated [ug/l], Chlorophyll-counts [nodim], Fluorometer temperature [deg C], Fluorometer timestamp [timestamp]), Seconds since 1/1/1970 [timestamp), Oxygen [umol/l], Oxygen saturation [%], Oxygen optode temperature [deg C], Conductivity [s/m], Pressure [bar], Water temperature [deg C].

Methods:

All data collected on underwater profiling glider and submitted as raw data.

Instruments:

Slocum Electric G1 glider (Teledyne Webb Research), with Vemco VMT.

Provenance and Historical References:

Lembke, Chad; Lowerre-Barbieri, Susan; Mann, David; Taylor, J. Christopher (2018). Using three acoustic technologies on underwater gliders to survey fish. Marine Technology Society Journal 52(6), 39-52. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4031/MTSJ.52.6.1

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