Model comparison for transatlantic ocean glider flight: Student analysis of modern circumnavigation

Abstract

Oceanic forecast models are imperative to understand the Earth's ocean. Current oceanic forecasts assimilate satellite sea surface height and temperature data along with temperature and salinity profiles from Argo networks of over 3000 drifters. Even though assimilation of these datasets are reliable, they have limitations because areas that provide critical data to ocean forecast models are often under sampled. Autonomous Underwater Gliders (AUGs) can be used as a solution to reduce under sampled regions of the ocean. Over the last decade, AUGs have successfully been used to carry out regional deployments to conduct scientific expeditions throughout the Earth's Ocean. Through the Challenger Glider Mission, coordinated flights covering 128,000 kilometers are planned around the five ocean basins. A range of international institutions and agencies can participate in the mission using interactive tools developed by the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) and the education outreach tools of the U.S. National Science Foundation's (NSF) Ocean Observing Initiative (OOI). These interactive tools are programmed to display real time glider data with interactive browser-based access, enabling student participation in global ocean exploration and predictive skill experiments. During the summer of 2015, student research teams participated in the second leg of the South Atlantic Challenger Glider Mission (named RU29). The aim is to show the usefulness of RU29's in situ datasets in ocean forecasting by comparing salinity, temperature, and sea surface current observations to the predictive readings of ocean models (RTOFS, MyOcean) and data generated by the Argo Float program. The students' involvement contributes to the assessment of current scientific and oceanographic models, courtesy of the Challenger Glider Mission.