Scott Glenn and Travis Miles joined captain Jim Nickles of Monmouth University on the R/V Heidi Lynn Sculthorpe on July 22 and deployed two US Navy Slocum Gliders. These gliders are joining what will become a fleet of glider in the mid-Atlantic that will remain deployed throughout hurricane season. They will gather information about what is happening below the ocean surface that may either hinder or enhance the strength of an approaching tropical cyclone. Funding for this hurricane glider program was made available by the United States Navy, NOAA, IOOS, IFAA, OAR, AOML.

The Jersey Shore is endeared in our minds as a mystical convergence of beach, ocean, boardwalk and amusements—punctuated with sounds of seagulls and crashing waves—and seasoned with smells of salty air and clams.   Growing up at the beach provides a year-round, behind-the-scenes perspective of the Shore that summer visitors rarely see. For Hailey Conrad, growing up in Ortley Beach, NJ was a window into the interface of humans and nature, and its impact on plant and animal life. “Ortley Beach is a little beach town on a barrier island that has been ravaged by acts of environmental destruction for decades, from pollution, to overfishing, to coastline erosion and now, climate change,” said Conrad. The proximity to Island Beach State Park–New Jersey’s only undeveloped preserved barrier island that hosts a number of natural shoreline and nearshore habitats provided Conrad with a stark contrast to her developed beach town. But her firsthand lessons came from the year-round residents of Ortley Beach—the one’s whose livelihoods depended on the sustainability of that environment. From an early age, Conrad learned things in school like, “eutrophication,” “overfishing,” and “ocean acidification.”  Full story here

The influences of ocean conditions and currents on living environments are now more widely appreciated—from the Earth’s climate and severe weather conditions to fisheries and biodiversity. Sustained and wide-spread measurements are needed to provide essential clues for understanding the oceans, for effective monitoring of environmental changes, and for helping to clarify the long-term effects of global warming. To meet this challenge, ocean re-searchers have invented various types of unmanned observing platforms. Two variants developed and supplied by Teledyne Webb Research are gliders for measuring upper-ocean waters and profiling floats for observing global circulation. These platforms, which support a growing range of applications, have been especially valuable for measuring the challenging waters beneath severe storms. Original Article  

The need for the improvement of the hurricane intensity forecasts has been recognized by groups within the National Weather Service (NWS) and US Navy. Hurricane forecasting models require accurate ocean and atmosphere initial conditions to better forecast hurricane intensity. One way to improve the initial conditions in operational ocean models is to use data assimilation, a technique that allows a numerical model to ingest observational data to nudge the model predictions closer to reality. RUCOOL is evaluating how data assimilation is impacting the ocean model performance throughout the western Atlantic Ocean and ultimately how ocean processes affect storm intensity. Images of these daily model comparisons, since the inception of the 2019 hurricane season, are available here. The Rutgers gliders are part of a larger fleet that is deployed throughout the western Atlantic with partners from the Navy, MARACOOS, CARICOOS, SECOORA, GCOOS and AOML to monitor sea surface temperatures and collect other data during hurricanes. This work is funded through several projects with NOAA (IOOS, OAR, AOML), the US Navy, NSF, the states of NJ and NY, private companies and private donations. A map of the 2019 hurricane season glider deployments from all partners is shown below. The data from these gliders is available for download through the IOOS Glider DAC. For weekly updates on the glider research, status of missions, etc, please visit the RUCOOL Hurricane Blog.

NOAA | News & Features Four ocean gliders are setting off to sea this week to bring back data scientists hope will improve the accuracy of hurricane forecast models. The robotic, unmanned gliders are equipped with sensors to measure the salt content (salinity) and temperature as they move through the ocean at different depths. The gliders, which can operate in hurricane conditions, collect data during dives down to a half mile below the sea surface, and transmit the data to satellites when they surface. NOAA scientists are launching the underwater vehicles from ships off the coast of Puerto Rico; more gliders will be deployed later in the summer in other parts of the Atlantic. Glide plan: Orange lines show the proposed paths for the unmanned gliders to travel this summer, where they will record temperature and salinity data from the surface to a half mile below. Once launched, gliders will make regular dives along a set course and surface several times a day to send collected data to an available satellite. Warm water has the potential to strengthen storms while cool waters may weaken them, so knowing if a storm will pass over only warm water or areas where cold water may be stirred up from below helps scientists and forecasters predict whether a storm will intensify or weaken as it travels. When it comes to hurricanes, ocean conditions matter Water temperature and salinity provide important clues to how strong a hurricane can become. Warmer surface waters can lead to stronger hurricanes, and salt content can affect the temperature of the ocean surface. “If the surface of the ocean is much warmer and much less salty than the deeper layers, it will form a cap that prevents the mixing and upwelling of cool water from below,” said Gustavo Goni, an oceanographer at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory who is helping lead this year’s glider operations. Improving forecasts of hurricane intensity is vital. Coastal communities make decisions about whether to evacuate based in part on the predicted strength of an approaching hurricane. Data collected by gliders will help scientists figure out where models are getting hurricane forecasts right, and where the models could use a boost. “Representing the ocean accurately in forecast models is critical,” said LCDR Benjamin LaCour, glider program manager for NOAA’s Integrated Ocean Observing System. “The gliders help us do that because they’re giving us high-volume, information-rich data in areas that are challenging for the models to get right.” Glider use at NOAA NOAA scientists have been deploying gliders to monitor ocean conditions each hurricane season since 2014. The agency has worked with partners including the U.S. Navy, Rutgers University, University of Miami, and University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez to launch the underwater vehicles in areas that frequently experience hurricanes. See where they are now AOML Hurricane Gliders  IOOS Gilder Data Assembly Centeroffsite link See them in action  Video: How do ocean gliders work? Video: #ScienceAtSea, Ocean gliders Video: Gliding into hurricane intensity Article and Photo Credit: https://www.noaa.gov

New Jersey 101.5 | Dino Flammia A robot enters the ocean and pulls in the right amount of sea water to help itself glide but not sink. For three weeks straight, the robot’s sensors are scanning the sea — from top to bottom — to spot any water-quality abnormalities. Every two hours, the robot comes up to the surface, sticks out its tail (equipped with an antenna) and transmits data to researchers on land. Sounds like something out of a futuristic sci-fi movie, but that’s actually what will happen later this month and what has been happening about three times per year over the past decade. In partnership with the state Department of Environmental Protection, Rutgers experts deploy underwater robot gliders to help monitor water quality during the beach season. The first deployment of 2019 is expected to occur in the middle of June. The robot’s mission takes it from Sandy Hook to Cape May, constantly measuring dissolved oxygen and other factors that relate to the health of the water and the wildlife using it. “The glider needs at least about 30 feet of water to really perform well,” said Josh Kohut, associate professor or oceanography at Rutgers-New Brunswick. Kohut said “the tool fills a gap” left by other water-monitoring efforts conducted by the state. May 20 marked the 45th anniversary of New Jersey’s Cooperative Coastal Monitoring Program, through which quality testing is conducted weekly at hundreds of ocean, bay and river beaches. Aerial surveillance flights occur six days a week as well. The robot’s next mission should run through the July 4 holiday. Its sensors also indicate when it may be getting too deep or too close to the ocean floor. And with its ability to make a satellite phone connection, its updates every two hours let researchers see in real time where it’s located, what it’s sensing and whether battery life is efficient. Kohut said “the partnership with DEP has been in place for the past 10 years“. Kohut said “a glider happened to be in the water in 2011 when Hurricane Irene came up the coast“. “Because gliders don’t get seasick we kept it out in the storm, and we learned a lot about how the ocean and the atmosphere work during hurricanes,” he said. Article Credit: https://nj1015.com/ Photo Credit: Rutgers University Center for Ocean Observation Leadership (RUCOOL) Flickr Gallery Contact reporter Dino Flammia at dino.flammia@townsquaremedia.com

The European(EGO) and US(UG2) Autonomous Underwater Glider User Groups came together to host the 8th EGO Meeting and International Glider Workshop right here at Rutgers University May 21st – 23rd. Kicking off this meeting with the opening talk was Robert M. Goodman, executive dean of the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. The meeting offered a mix of presentations, panels, breakout groups, a poster session, and open community dialog. It also provided a forum in which scientists, engineers, students and industry can exchange knowledge and experiences on the development of glider technology, the application of gliders in oceanographic research and the role of gliders in ocean observing systems. 95% of the RUCOOL team was present at this wonderful event and we were happy to have face time with our world wide industries friends and partners. VIEW all the RUCOOL talks