Seaglider Oceanographic Measurements from Washington Coast Deployment

Physical oceanographic data was collected by an autonomous Seaglider vehicle during a four-month mission off the Washington and Oregon coast. The dataset contains measurements of temperature, salinity, and depth-averaged currents along underwater glide paths. It was collected by the University of Washington and archived by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, with data spanning from September 2007 to January 2008.

Use Cases

• Analyze temperature and salinity time-series to identify water mass boundaries and seasonal changes in coastal waters.
• Map depth-averaged current measurements to study coastal circulation patterns and transport.
• Model the sawtooth trajectory data to optimize autonomous underwater vehicle mission planning and navigation.
• Correlate sensor readings from the Seaglider's glide phases with satellite or ship-based oceanographic observations.

Strengths

• Data collected over a continuous 4-month deployment period from September 2007 to January 2008.
• Includes multiple physical oceanographic variables (temperature, salinity, depth-averaged currents) measured along precise underwater trajectories.

Limitations

• Specific row count, column details, and file formats are not provided in the metadata.
• Data is from a single vehicle (SG005) deployment, limiting spatial coverage to its operational area.
• Dataset is over 15 years old, which may limit relevance for studying recent oceanographic changes.

Provenance

Source

University of Washington's School of Oceanography and Applied Physics Laboratory, archived by NOAA NCEI.

Collection Method

Measurements collected by a buoyancy-driven autonomous underwater vehicle (Seaglider) following programmed sawtooth trajectories.

Time Range

2007-09-10 to 2008-01-17

Freshness

Last updated on 2008-01-17; historical dataset with no stated update frequency.

Geography

Coastal waters of Washington and Oregon in the North Pacific Ocean.