IMOS - Australian National Facility for Ocean Gliders (ANFOG)

• Other Authors: School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering (CEME), The University of Western Australia (UWA) (isOwnedBy)
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: data.gov.au
• Subjects: ANFOG; Australian National Facility for Ocean Gliders; Bathymetry; Bluewater and Climate; Chlorophyll; Conductivity; Coral Sea; East Australian Current; Fluorescence; Fluorometers; IMOS Facility; IMOS Node; Indian Ocean; Leeuwin Current; NSW-IMOS; New South Wales Integrated Marine Observing Syste; Ocean Chemistry; Ocean Circulation; Ocean Currents; Ocean Optics; Ocean Temperature; Oceans; Organic Matter; Oxygen; Pacific Ocean; Physical Oceanography; Regional Seas; SA-IMOS; Salinity; Southern Australian Integrated Marine Observing S; Southern Ocean; Tasman Sea; Turbidity; WAIMOS; Water Depth; Water Temperature; Western Australia Integrated Marine Observing Sys; Indian; Pacific; Webb
• Online Access: https://researchdata.edu.au/imos-australian-national-gliders-anfog/1926021; http://data.gov.au/dataset/758393b7-7241-4915-917f-bda4f3ed9854

The Australian National Facility for Ocean Gliders (ANFOG), with IMOS/NCRIS funding, deploys a fleet of eight gliders around Australia.\n\nThe underwater ocean glider represents a technological revolution for oceanography. Autonomous ocean gliders can be built relatively cheaply, are controlled remotely and are reusables allowing them to make repeated subsurface ocean observations at a fraction of the cost of conventional methods. The data retrieved from the glider fleet will contribute to the study of the major boundary current systems surrounding Australia and their links to coastal ecosystems.\n\nThe ANFOG glider fleet consists of two types; Slocum gliders and Seagliders. \nSlocum gliders (named for Joshua Slocum, the first solo global circumnavigator), manufactured by Webb Research Corp are optimised for shallow coastal waters (<200m) were high manoeuvrability is needed. ANFOG will have three Slocum gliders for deployment on the continental shelf. Seagliders, built at the University of Washington, are designed to operate more efficiently in the open ocean up to 1000m water depth. ANFOG uses their five Seagliders to monitor the boundary currents and continental shelves, which is valuable for gathering long-term environmental records of physical, chemical and biological data not widely measured to date. Whilst the Slocum gliders, due to their low cost and operational flexibility, will be of great use in intensive coastal monitoring, both types of gliders weigh only 52kg, enabling them to be launched from small boats. They have a suite of sensors able to record temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, dissolved organic matter and chlorophyll against position and depth\n\nSustained ocean observations will allow researchers to document the natural variability of the ocean, and better understand the effect of climate change on coastal ecosystems. The IMOS gliders will focus particularly on the major boundary currents that run down the Australia coast, the Leeuwin in the west and the East Australian ...