PLOCAN, the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) continue to promote and strengthen their collaboration in the ocean-observing strategy in the Canary Islands through the seasonal program based on glider missions at the Time-Series station ESTOC (deep node of the PLOCAN Integrated Observatory) and Deep Radial of the Canary Islands: Study and observation of the climate variability of the subtropical gyre in the Eastern Central Atlantic (Radial RAPROCAN), managed by PLOCAN and the IEO respectively, on which researchers from the IOCAG (Institute of Oceanography and Global Change) belonging to the ULPGC collaborate at a scientific-technical level.
Proof of this is the satisfactory completion of a new mission, the first of the 2024 year, which under the distinctive ESTOC 2024_1 and a duration of eighteen days, has carried out a voyage of approximately two hundred nautical miles, performing dives every three hours at a depth of one thousand meters. using a glider profiler unit belonging to PLOCAN’s fleet of autonomous marine vehicles.
The main goal of this seasonal glider program is to contribute to the ESTOC and RAPROCAN time series sustainability, through routine ocean observations through the use of autonomous technologies that are more efficient and sustainable than through more traditional methodologies such as oceanographic vessels.
The ESTOC 2024_1 mission will enable to collect more than one million data on each of the six biogeochemical parameters of seawater observed (temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, plankton, chlorophyll and turbidity), all in line with current programs, projects, international standards and methodologies regarding the observation of the oceanic environment, promoted by OceanGliders, GROOM-II and EuroGOOS.
PLOCAN, as gliderport infrastructure member of leading international initiatives and working groups such as EGO, EuroGOOS, OceanGliders, OceanSites, EMSO, etc., contributes with this initiative both to the implementation of international protocols and standards for the operation of autonomous platforms. ocean monitoring, as well as the dissemination of the data generated. An example of this is the contribution to the European strategy for the management and standardization of marine data through direct cooperation with the Coriolis and EMODNet initiatives, enabling in real time data collected by the glider in each dive, with quality control and standardized European format.
More information at PLOCAN Glider Portal.
