Abstract:
A Slocum glider was deployed in the eastern Gulf of Mexico off Tampa Bay in May and June 2017. As the glider traverses its transit path, it makes measurements at various depths from ~2 m to near the seafloor or up to 200 m. While the glider is deployed at sea, it surfaces and communicates 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 USF web site. After the glider’s recovery at the end of the deployment, the complete measurement suite is downloaded from the vehicle and processed and becomes available through the USF site as well as a national data archive. The measurements in this data set include 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 echo sounder water column data. The glider was deployed on 2017-05-16 at the 30 m isobath. It traversed for a week to the NW before turning WSW to the 150 m isobath, turned around and made its way bath NE before turning SE. It was recovered on 2017-06-12. The intent was for the glider to follow the progression of the Gulfstream Natural Gas Pipeline before and after a transect out to the shelf break, 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 echo sounder 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); acoustic tag telemetry receiver detections (FL.x707.000:0005, https://doi.org/10.7266/n7-406m-ak69), echo sounder backscatter (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: 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 M72 (2017-05-16 – 2017-06-12) - water quality variables. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/ehj8evgw
Purpose:
Demonstration of fisheries-applicable datasets obtained by underwater gliders, including tag telemetry receivers, passive acoustic recordings, and echo sounder 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].
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