Gulf of Mexico Glider Trajectory Profile Data from 2016

Physical oceanographic measurements collected by the glider 'roxy' deployed by Texas A&M University in the coastal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The dataset contains profiles of properties like temperature, salinity, conductivity, and density from a single deployment spanning October 8 to November 10, 2016. Data were aggregated and preserved by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information.

Use Cases

• Analyze vertical profiles of temperature and salinity to identify water mass boundaries and stratification changes over the deployment period.
• Correlate density and conductivity measurements with glider trajectory data to study spatial gradients in the coastal Gulf of Mexico.
• Validate or calibrate regional ocean circulation models using in-situ time-series data from the 2016 glider mission.
• Investigate short-term oceanographic variability relevant to hurricane prediction by examining the physical property data collected before and during the deployment.

Strengths

• Data from a dedicated oceanographic glider deployment providing high-resolution vertical profiles.
• Measurements cover multiple core physical properties (temperature, salinity, conductivity, density) simultaneously.
• Data underwent quality checks for file convention compliance by the National Glider Data Assembly Center.

Limitations

• Dataset is limited to a single glider deployment over a 34-day period in late 2016, offering a temporal snapshot.
• Spatial coverage is confined to the specific trajectory of the 'roxy' glider in coastal Gulf of Mexico waters.
• Unknown sample size (row count) and specific data resolution within the netCDF files.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), sourced from the IOOS National Glider Data Assembly Center.

Collection Method

In-situ measurements collected by an autonomous underwater glider (roxy) deployed by Texas A&M University.

Time Range

2016-10-08 to 2016-11-10

Freshness

One-time collection; data is from 2016.

Geography

Coastal Waters of the Gulf of Mexico.