Skip to content

Best Practices for Operating Underwater Gliders in Atlantic Canada

Download the paper (PDF)

Citation

von Oppeln-Bronikowski N, de Young B, Belzile M, Comeau A, Cyr F, Davis R, Emery P, Richards C, Hebert D and Van Der Meer J (2023). Best practices for operating underwater gliders in Atlantic Canada. Frontiers in Marine Science 10:1108326. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2023.1108326. Open access, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) — reproduced here with attribution to the original authors and publication.

This review summarizes nearly two decades of glider observing experience across Atlantic Canada — Memorial University, the Coastal Environmental Observation Technology and Research (CEOTR) group, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), operating since 2005, 2010, and 2017 respectively. It has three goals:

  1. Give new and emerging glider users guidance and considerations for developing a glider program.
  2. Review the literature on sensor development for gliders and their scientific use.
  3. Highlight mission scenarios with enough practical detail to support actually operating gliders in the field.

What It Covers

  • Glider operators active in Atlantic Canada and their main projects and study areas.
  • Regional oceanography: the Newfoundland Shelf, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and related deployment areas.
  • Lessons learned operating gliders in the region — understanding mission costs, glider mission planning, power management, and glider emergencies.
  • Glider sensor payloads and data streams, including standard corrections used across Canadian glider groups.

Since it is written from direct regional operating experience, it is a useful complement to the platform-specific procedures elsewhere on this site — particularly for anyone planning missions in the Northwest Atlantic or facing similar conditions (strong currents, fisheries and shipping traffic, seasonal ice).