The surrounding waters of Martha’s Vineyard, island located Southwards of the Cape Cod peninsula (Massachusetts, USA), have been the scene of the beginning of the Sentinel Redwing mission, a pioneering and ambitious voyage led by Teledyne Marine (USA) in collaboration with the RU-COOL laboratory of Rutgers University (USA) and a large and multidisciplinary group of international collaborating institutions, including the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN). This is the first-ever mission of an autonomous underwater vehicle (glider) designed to circumnavigate the planet, with an estimated duration of five years and a distance of more than 40,000 kilometers.
The protagonist of this scientific-technological adventure is the Slocum Sentinel Redwing underwater glider, developed by the North American company Teledyne Marine, capable of operating autonomously and uninterrupted for periods of up to two years thanks to its innovative and efficient buoyancy propulsion system. Unlike conventional submarines, a glider does not use propellers, but rather ascends and descends through the water column to depths up to 1.000 meters, modifying its density, taking advantage of ocean currents to move with unprecedented energy efficiency.
The Sentinel Redwing mission, after its start on the Northeast coast of the United States, has a first leg planned following the Gulf Stream towards the Eastern Atlantic (Europe) with a first technical stopover at PLOCAN facilities in Gran Canaria, which will act as a gliderport infrastructure providing technical and logistical support in sensor calibration, battery recharging and other maintenance work enabling the glider to continue flying towards the Southern Atlantic (South Africa). Specifically, the current plan envisages a next stage that will take it to Cape Town, South Africa, before crossing the Indian Ocean to stop in Western Australia and then New Zealand. Subsequently, it will navigate the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the most powerful on Earth, which will take it on its longest leg to the Malvinas Islands. From there, stops are planned in Brazil and the Caribbean before returning home.
“The Sentinel Redwing has the range and endurance to do what no other underwater vehicle has accomplished,” said Shea Quinn, glider product manager at Teledyne Marine and mission led. “It is designed to remain operational in the ocean for two consecutive years, transmitting critical and valuable information about the state and dynamics of the global ocean.”
Equipped with high-precision sensors, the glider will collect data of key EOVs such temperature, salinity, pressure, ocean currents and biological activity, contributing to improving climate prediction models and understanding phenomena such as marine heat waves, hurricanes or changes in pelagic ecosystems. All information will be transmitted periodically via satellite and made available to the international scientific community.
For Professor Scott Glenn, co-founder of the RU-COOL center and one of the world leaders in operational oceanography, this mission represents “a decisive step towards continuous and global observation of the oceans.” Glenn highlights that the project combines science, education and international collaboration: “We are deploying a glider that will travel around the world collecting data, involving students, researchers and centers from all over the planet, in a synergistic and coordinated manner.”
The partnership between Teledyne Marine, RU-COOL and the rest of the entities involved in the Sentinel Redwing mission reinforces a shared vision: to systematically develop and operate autonomous platforms capable of covering large ocean areas without depending on manned vessels, reducing costs and the environmental impact of scientific campaigns. In addition, it will allow training of a new generation of highly qualified scientists and technicians in the management of autonomous marine vehicles, benefiting the ocean’s health.
In this context, PLOCAN plays a key role as a leading European infrastructure for autonomous marine vehicles operations, with particular focus on ocean glides. Its strategic location in the Eastern Central Atlantic and consolidated experience and capabilities in managing international scientific-technical programs related to ocean sciences and technologies make the Canary Islands a strategic and essential node for future global ocean-observing routes.
In words of Carlos Barrera, responsible for the VIMAS (Underwater Vehicles, Instruments and Machines) facility at ICTS-PLOCAN, “in addition to marking a huge technological milestone in terms of ocean-observing capabilities, the Sentinel Redwing mission will reinforce and give continuity to the satisfactory and fruitful institutional relationship that PLOCAN, Teledyne Marine and RU-COOL have conducted for two decades through transoceanic glider missions such as Scarlet Knight (2009) and Silbo (2020), and the international PLOCAN Glider School initiative since 2011, among others.”
Sentinel Redwing, a mission endorsed by leading programs from NOAA, the Marine Technology Society (MTS) and UN Ocean Decade, “is an unprecedented journey that, combining technological innovation, international cooperation and a sustainable vision of the ocean as a source of knowledge and climate balance, opens a new era in the global observation of the ocean environment. Each nautical mile traveled by this glider will represent a fundamental step towards a better understanding, conservation and sustainability of the blue planet”, concludes Shea Quinn, Teledyne Marine.
