ARCTERX IOP2 Glider Operations
Abstract
During the May 2023 IOP for the ARCTERX DRI, the starting port of Kaohsiung, Taiwan was suddenly changed to Koror, Palau after equipment and personnel had been deployed to Taiwan. We incurred several unanticipated large expenses during the disrupted 2023 IOP thathave strained our budgets. These expenses will hinder our ability to participate in the 2025 IOP and subsequent analysis period using existing funds. During the 2023 IOP our microstructure Slocum gliders captured intriguing small-scale patterns in turbulence thatwere likely generated by near-inertial waves. However, the conditions were less suitable for addressing our main hypotheses regarding the submesoscale energy cascade. We are excited to participate in 2025 IOP which will likely encounter and quantify an intense wintertime submesoscale energy cascade. Submesoscale processes have been intensively studied at ocean fronts, however, they have not been examined in mesoscale eddies, which have properties and behaviors distinct from just a simple front. We propose to use a small fleet UUV gliders to follow mesoscale eddies for multiple month-long periods, characterizing the contributions of submesoscale processes to the evolution of the larger features. The novel outcomes of this proposed work include long-term observations following a mesoscale eddy, resolving the evolution of heat, salt, momentum, energy and higher-order properties; a glider-based data set with dissipation and finescale shear, resolving the potential vorticity and turbulent mixing in submesoscale features; and acoustic ranging between UUVs, reducing the uncertainty in dead-reckoned subsurface positions # a major contributor to gradient estimates at submesoscales.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Nov 08, 2024
- Source ID
- N000142412540
Entities
People
- Jesse Cusack
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- Oregon State University
- United States Navy