14-09-2009. Transatlantic missions with gliders in the North Atlantic.

- Glider tracking, ( in situ data ) -

Several contact talks that have taken place during the last two years, have enabled the Canary Islands Oceanic Platform ( PLOCAN ) to consolidate and maintain nowadays a direct collaboration with the Coastal Ocean Observing Laboratory (RU-COOL) from Rutgers University, with regard to gliders.

Last June 2009, some members of PLOCAN visited the RU-COOL with the aim to finalise the talks period and start the operational phase of this collaboration; it was agreed to set up formation grants and to implement students exchanges in the gliders field of study. Currently, two grant holders from PLOCAN (Álvaro Lorenzo y Adrián Martín) are carrying out a learning stay of two months in the RU-COOL, with very clear objectives: to support the two transatlantic missions with gliders devices, and to get trained about the new technologies and protocols derived from the use of this type of oceanographic observing systems, both at HW and SW levels.

Adrián y Álvaro (PLOCAN members) doing "piloting" tasks in the COOL-Room located at RU-COOL

 

Google-Earth real-time trajectories representation of the two operative gliders doing transatlantic missions nowadays

PLOCAN is member of the I-COOL ( International Coalition of Ocean Observing Laboratories) and the European Gliding Observatories (EGO)