Caribbean Sea Glider Trajectory Profile Data from NOAA AOML

Seaglider SG630 collected 94 days of physical oceanographic profile data in the Caribbean Sea during the 2017 hurricane season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory deployed the glider, with data preserved by the National Centers for Environmental Information. Measurements include temperature, salinity, conductivity, and density along the glider's underwater trajectory.

Use Cases

• Model ocean heat content evolution using temperature and salinity profiles to improve hurricane intensity forecasts.
• Analyze water column structure by correlating density profiles with glider depth and location data.
• Validate satellite-derived sea surface salinity estimates with in-situ conductivity measurements.
• Study diurnal or seasonal mixing patterns by examining temperature time-series data at different depths.

Strengths

• Data spans 94 consecutive days from July to October 2017, capturing a full hurricane season.
• Profile data includes multiple core physical variables: temperature, salinity, conductivity, and density.
• Data underwent quality checks for netCDF compliance by the Integrated Ocean Observing System's National Glider Data Assembly Center.

Limitations

• The dataset is from a single glider deployment, limiting spatial coverage to one trajectory in the Caribbean Sea.
• Exact sample size (number of profiles or rows) is unspecified, complicating reproducibility for statistical analysis.
• Data is from 2017 and may not reflect current oceanographic conditions.

Provenance

Source

NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, via NCEI and IOOS National Glider Data Assembly Center.

Collection Method

In-situ measurements collected by an autonomous Seaglider SG630 during a dedicated deployment.

Time Range

2017-07-12 to 2017-10 13

Freshness

Data collection ended on 2017-10-13; it is a static archival dataset.

Geography

Caribbean Sea, along the trajectory of glider SG630.