Routes
The Ocean Gliders facility currently operates five main routes each targeting particular oceanographic features in Australian waters.
New South Wales Coast
The NSW-IMOS node deploys Seagliders off the NSW coast with the aim of increasing our understanding of the dynamics and variability of the East Australian Current (EAC), the Tasman Front, and eddies shed by the EAC. Currently, two deployments of five months each occur every year targeting the eddy field south of the EAC separation zone. Slocum gliders are also deployed in this area to make cross-shelf transects of the adjacent shelf, investigating the challenging environment of the continental shelf off Stockton Bight, Jervis Bay and Eden. Slocum gliders sample recurrent features during 3 week deployments, such as tracking the maturation of phytoplankton after a cold core eddy brings nutrients into the photic zone. The inshore monitoring by Slocum gliders will also track the effects of estuarine discharge and southern extensions of the isotherms off Eden. Gliders are usually deployed from either Port Stephens or Crowdy Head in winter-spring to coincide with the occurrence of East Coast Lows and the spring bloom phenomena.
Southern Ocean
Seagliders are deployed at the Southern Ocean Time Series site in the Southern Ocean southwest of Tasmania and traverse towards Tasmania. The measurements taken by gliders on this route provide a spatial context for the larger set of biogeochemical observations obtained from the moored observations at the site, to allow assessment of how representative they are of the region. Furthermore, transects across the Tasman Outflow and Zeehan Current between Hobart and the Southern Ocean Time Series site help in characterising the boundary currents that influence climate and marine ecosystems of the area.
Western Australia – Leeuwin Current
The WAIMOS node manages and deploys gliders to aid ongoing research efforts to understand the role of the Leeuwin current system in controlling not only the marine life but also the climate of south-western Australia. Originating in the tropics, the Leeuwin current is a shallow, narrow band of warm, low salinity water, which flows poleward from Exmouth to Cape Leeuwin and into the Great Australian Bight. A Seaglider is deployed off Dampier every 3 months and traverses back and forth across the Leeuwin Current, completing its deployment in Freemantle. As Seagliders have a 6 month battery life, they can complete many cross-shore transects, dependant on the strength of the Leeuwin Current and the presence of eddies.
Western Australia – Two Rocks
A Slocum glider will complete circuits from Two Rocks (north of Perth) to the edge of the Leeuwin Current and then return through the axis of the Perth Canyon. Currently, Slocum gliders are deployed on this route 8 times per year.
Coral Sea
In the Coral Sea region off northern Queensland, two Seagliders undertake permanent transects along the coast collecting observations of temperature, salinity and oxygen in top 1000 m, as well as chlorophyll and backscatter from the mixed layer. The observations collected by these gliders will be incorporated into the nested hydrodynamic models being developed for Queensland to track changes in the coastal flows near the continental margin and on the shelf.
Other locations where Ocean Gliders have already been deployed, or where future deployments are planned include the east coast of Tasmania (to help elucidate the nature of the EAC), Storm Bay close to Hobart (where a Slocum glider traverses a route from Storm Bay to the edge of the continental shelf), the Kimberly/Pilbra region of Western Australia, and the continental shelf region of South Australia.
