Glider Trajectory Profile Data from California Coastal Upwelling Study

Physical trajectory profile data from the Rutgers University glider 'ru22' deployed in the coastal waters of California. The dataset contains measurements of temperature, salinity, conductivity, and density collected over a one-month period from August 25 to September 23, 2014. Data were archived by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information after processing by the Integrated Ocean Observing System's National Glider Data Assembly Center.

Use Cases

• Analyze cross-shore density structure and alongshore velocity fields to identify regions where ageostrophic flows dominate momentum balances.
• Model the inner shelf circulation response to wind relaxations using time-series measurements of temperature and salinity.
• Determine source waters for relaxation flows by examining spatial scales and pressure gradients derived from the glider's physical profile data.
• Validate oceanographic models by comparing predicted and observed pressure, density, and velocity fields along the glider trajectory.

Strengths

• Data covers a focused, continuous one-month observational period during a key coastal upwelling season.
• Measurements include core physical oceanographic properties (temperature, salinity, conductivity, density) essential for dynamics analysis.
• 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 month in 2014, preventing analysis of seasonal or interannual variability.
• Spatial coverage is restricted to the trajectory of a single glider deployment in the Northern Southern California Bight.
• Specific row counts, sample resolution, and data completeness metrics are not provided in the metadata.

Provenance

Source

Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey; archived by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI Accession 0138015).

Collection Method

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

Time Range

2014-08-25 to 2014-09-23

Freshness

Static historical dataset; last updated corresponds to data collection end date (2014-09-23).

Geography

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