Ocean Glider Trajectory Profiles from the Caribbean Sea in 2019

RU29 glider data collected by Rutgers University from September 6 to October 1, 2019, provides temperature, conductivity, salinity, and density profiles across the Anegada Passage. The dataset supports the Challenger Glider Mission's goals of enhancing ocean model prediction and student research. NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) archived the data submitted by the Integrated Ocean Observing System's National Glider Data Assembly Center.

Use Cases

• Modeling heat transport between the Caribbean Sea and Tropical North Atlantic using temperature and density profiles.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of salinity and conductivity across the Anegada Passage and surrounding island regions.
• Assimilating physical oceanographic property measurements like temperature and salinity into real-time ocean forecast models.
• Studying ocean conditions in areas impacted by tropical cyclones, using the geospatial trajectory data around the US Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands.

Strengths

• Data covers a specific 26-day mission from September 6 to October 1, 2019.
• Includes multiple core physical oceanographic properties: temperature, salinity, conductivity, and density.
• Data was aggregated and checked for compliance to a netCDF convention by the IOOS National Glider Data Assembly Center before archival.

Limitations

• Current profile observations are logged separately and are not included in this dataset.
• The spatial coverage is limited to a single glider transect and box pattern in the Caribbean Sea region.
• Temporal coverage is limited to a single month, providing a snapshot rather than long-term trends.

Provenance

Source

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; Center for Ocean Observing Leadership (RU COOL), via IOOS National Glider Data Assembly Center and NOAA NCEI.

Collection Method

Measurements collected by an autonomous underwater glider (RU29) during a deployed mission.

Time Range

2019-09-06 to 2019-10-01

Freshness

Data collection ended on 2019-10-01; the dataset is a historical snapshot.

Geography

Caribbean Sea, specifically the Anegada Passage and surrounding island regions including US Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, and Anguilla.