Ocean gliders that have been pulled from the waters off Saipan.
SCIENTISTS using remote operated ocean gliders to collect data on the sea around the Marianas will conduct two public presentations of their work on Sept. 13 and 14 at two different locations, according to Chad Gibson, a Ph.D. student researcher.
The scientists are from the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University; the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington; National Taiwan University; and the Scripps Institute of Oceanography at University of California San Diego.
The first presentation starts at 6 p.m. on Sept. 13 at the 500 Sails Cultural Maritime Training Center in Lower Base while the second presentation is for for 6 p.m. on Sept. 14 at the American Memorial Park Visitor Center.
Both presentations are free.
Gibson said in total, the project features 11 gliders that have been making their way around the waters northwest of Saipan. The gliders travel in a “saw-tooth” motion, submerging and then floating back up to the surface. They can go as far down as 1,000 meters, Gibson said.
Since June, he has been monitoring the gliders while he stayed in Oregon. He said the gliders send messages of their location to satellites, and he communicates back to them with the same technology.
Gibson said the gliders are collecting “terabytes” of information regarding the ocean’s salinity, temperature, and turbulence. When the project is finished, that data will go into larger ocean models and climate models. Gibson said the glider project provides observational data that the scientific community did not previously have.
