Barents Sea Monitoring with a SEA EXPLORER Glider

• Published in: OCEANS 2015 - Genova
• Main Authors: Field, Michael, Béguery, Laurent, Oziel, Laurent, Gascard, Jean-Claude
• Other Authors: Austral, Boréal et Carbone (ABC), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Alcen SEAMAR (Alcen) (ALSEAMAR), The research leading to these results has been supported by ACCESS (Arctic Climate Change, Economy and Society), with funding from the European Union under Grant Agreement n° 265863 within the Ocean of Tomorrow call of the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme., IEEE/MTS, European Project: 265863,EC:FP7:TPT,FP7-OCEAN-2010,ACCESS(2011)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2015
• Subjects: arctic water; central Barents; distance 388 km; magnetic compass; magnetic north pole; polar region; sea monitoring; Arctic; Calibration; Compass; Magnetic fields; Magnetoacoustic effects; Monitoring; Oceans; European FP7 ACCESS project; underwater vehicles; reliability; oceanographic techniques; compasses; Institute of Marine Research; Norway; SEA EXPLORER vehicle glider; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Barents Sea; North Pole
• Online Access: https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-01250813; https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-01250813/document; https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-01250813/file/PID3657039.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1109/OCEANS-Genova.2015.7271540

International audience The use of gliders in the Polar Regions offers clever and inexpensive methods for large scale monitoring and exploration. In August and September of 2014, a SEA EXPLORER glider successfully completed a 388 km mission in the central Barents Sea to monitor the physical and biological features over a transect between 72° 30' N and 74° 30' N latitude and between 32° E and 33° E longitude, as part of the European FP7 ACCESS project and in cooperation with the Institute of Marine Research, Norway. The paper discusses the performance of the SEA EXPLORER vehicle during the mission in Arctic waters. The behavior of the magnetic compass in close proximity to the magnetic north pole is described and its resulting impact on the flight of the glider. The reliability and robustness of the vehicle is evaluated for operations in these difficult conditions. This successful and cost-effective mission now opens the door to future opportunities to conduct repeat autonomous monitoring in the Barents Sea.