10:45 AM - 12:15 PM
[ACG44-P02] A week-long trip of a glider crossing the Kuroshio south of Japan
Keywords:ocean glider, Kuroshio
The ocean glider is a buoyancy driven autonomous underwater vehicle which moves both vertically and horizontally in a sawtooth trajectory toward a specified waypoint. The unique capacities of the gliders are suitable for observing some key aspects of the ocean including the boundary currents, complementing the existing components of the Global Ocean Observing System such as Argo and ship-board measurements. The Kuroshio off Taiwan has been frequently observed by gliders as part of the Boundary Ocean Observing Network of the international OceanGliders program, however, the Kuroshio south of Japan has rarely been observed by gliders.
Using a glider, we have conducted hydrographic and biogeochemical observations of the Kuroshio south of Japan from 9 to 16 December, 2022. The glider equipped with CTD, oxygen (RINKO II), and bio-optical (ECO FLBBCD) sensors has successfully traveled across the Kuroshio during it was out at sea for a week and obtained high-resolution cross-sectional data of the Kuroshio. The glider captures some fine-scale variabilities (with orders of 10m thickness and 10km width) around the Kuroshio axis, which may be related to frontal processes.
At the time of the deployment and recovery of the glider, ship-board measurements have been conducted by R/V Keifu Maru of the Japan Meteorological Agency to check the quality of the glider data. Also, there was two BGC Argo floats that have made observations around the glider: one was close to the location (~70 km) and time (< 1 day) of the glider's deployment and the other was close to the location (~80km) and time (< 4 days) of the glider's recovery. The vertical profiles of potential temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen obtained by these three platforms are similar to each other for both the cases at and around the locations of the glider's deployment and recovery. Quality-controlled glider data obtained in conjunction with the precise ship-board measurements could be a good reference for the other observing network like Argo, as the data validation of these autonomous platforms after deployment is not so straightforward without reliable reference data.
Using a glider, we have conducted hydrographic and biogeochemical observations of the Kuroshio south of Japan from 9 to 16 December, 2022. The glider equipped with CTD, oxygen (RINKO II), and bio-optical (ECO FLBBCD) sensors has successfully traveled across the Kuroshio during it was out at sea for a week and obtained high-resolution cross-sectional data of the Kuroshio. The glider captures some fine-scale variabilities (with orders of 10m thickness and 10km width) around the Kuroshio axis, which may be related to frontal processes.
At the time of the deployment and recovery of the glider, ship-board measurements have been conducted by R/V Keifu Maru of the Japan Meteorological Agency to check the quality of the glider data. Also, there was two BGC Argo floats that have made observations around the glider: one was close to the location (~70 km) and time (< 1 day) of the glider's deployment and the other was close to the location (~80km) and time (< 4 days) of the glider's recovery. The vertical profiles of potential temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen obtained by these three platforms are similar to each other for both the cases at and around the locations of the glider's deployment and recovery. Quality-controlled glider data obtained in conjunction with the precise ship-board measurements could be a good reference for the other observing network like Argo, as the data validation of these autonomous platforms after deployment is not so straightforward without reliable reference data.