Glider Trajectory Profile Data from California Coastal Waters

Physical trajectory profile data from glider ru22 deployed by Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. The dataset contains measurements of physical oceanographic properties like temperature, salinity, conductivity, and density, collected in the Coastal Waters of California from August 4 to August 22, 2014. Data were submitted to the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) via the Integrated Ocean Observing System's National Glider Data Assembly Center (IOOS NGDAC).

Use Cases

• Analyze cross-shore density structure and alongshore velocity fields from temperature and salinity profiles to understand relaxation flow dynamics.
• Model barotropic and baroclinic pressure gradient forcing using pressure and density measurements across the glider's trajectory.
• Identify regions of ageostrophic flow dominance in cross-shore momentum balances by correlating velocity fields with density data.
• Determine source waters for relaxation flows by tracing water mass properties from conductivity, temperature, and salinity profiles.
• Examine inner shelf circulation response to wind relaxations by analyzing time-series data over the 18-day deployment period.

Strengths

• Data collected via an autonomous glider platform, providing continuous in-situ measurements over an 18-day period.
• Physical properties include temperature, salinity, conductivity, and density, offering a multi-variable oceanographic profile.
• Data processed and checked for compliance with netCDF conventions by the authoritative IOOS National Glider Data Assembly Center.

Limitations

• Temporal coverage is limited to a single 18-day deployment in August 2014, restricting analysis of seasonal variability.
• Geographic scope is focused on a specific region of the central California coast, limiting broader spatial generalizability.
• Specific row counts, column details, and data resolution are not provided in the available metadata.

Provenance

Source

Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, via the Integrated Ocean Observing System's National Glider Data Assembly Center (IOOS NGDAC) and NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Collection Method

Collected by an autonomous underwater glider (ru22) equipped with sensors for physical oceanographic properties.

Time Range

2014-08-04 to 2014-08-22

Freshness

Data is from a specific historical deployment in 2014; no update frequency is indicated.

Geography

Coastal Waters of California, specifically the central California coast within the northern part of the Southern California Bight.