Unmanned underwater vehicles are becoming an increasingly important platform in oceanographic research and
operational oceanography, where continuous in situ sampling throughout the water column is essential to understanding
the ocean circulation and related biological, chemical, and optical activity. The latter directly affects field operations and
remote sensing capabilities from space. A unified approach is necessary for data quality control (QC), access, and
storage, considering the vast amount of data collected from gliders continuously deployed across large areas and over
long durations. The Binary Universal Form for the Representation of meteorological data (BUFR) maintained by the
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is adapted to include physical and optical parameters from a variety of
sensor suites onboard underwater vehicles. The provisional BUFR template and related BUFR descriptors and table
entries have been developed by the U.S. Navy for ocean glider profile data and QC results. Software written in
FORTRAN using the ECMWF BUFRDC library has been implemented to perform both the encoding and decoding of
BUFR files from and to Network Common Data Form (NetCDF) files. This presentation also discusses data collected
from sensors on gliders deployed both in deep water and shallow water environments, including issues specific to optical
sensors at various depths.
The Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) Glider Operations Center (GOC) supported its first joint-mission
exercise during Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 08, a multi-national naval exercise conducted during July 2008 near the
Hawaiian Islands. NAVOCEANO personnel deployed four Seagliders from USNS SUMNER for Anti-submarine
Warfare (ASW) operations and four Slocum gliders for Mine Warfare (MIW) operations. Each Seaglider was equipped
with a Sea-Bird Electronics (SBE) 41cp CTD and Wet Labs, Inc. bb2fl ECO-puck optical sensor. The instrumentation
suite on the Slocum gliders varied, but each Slocum glider had an SBE 41cp CTD combined with one of the following
optical sensors: a Wet Labs, Inc. AUVb scattering sensor, a Wet Labs, Inc. bb3slo ECO-puck backscattering sensor, or a
Satlantic, Inc. OCR radiometer. Using Iridium communications, the GOC had command and control of all eight gliders,
with Department of Defense (DoD) personnel and DoD contractors serving as glider pilots. Raw glider data were
transmitted each time a glider surfaced, and the subsequent data flow included processing, quality-control procedures,
and the generation of operational and tactical products. The raw glider data were also sent to the Naval Research
Laboratory at Stennis Space Center (NRLSSC) for fusion with satellite data and modeled data (currents, tides, etc.) to
create optical forecasting, optical volume, and electro-optical identification (EOID) performance surface products. The
glider-based products were delivered to the ASW and MIW Reach Back Cells for incorporation into METOC products
and for dissemination to the Fleet. Based on the metrics presented in this paper, the inaugural joint-mission operation
was a success.
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