Glider operations in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico: The design and implementation of a glider network at Texas A&M University

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are emerging tools in the ocean observing community and have been recently considered critical components for the future design and implementation of ocean observing networks in the Gulf of Mexico. The use of gliders will be important for complementing existing observatories, such as the Texas Automated Buoy System operated by the Geochemical Environmental Research Group (GERG), and for providing cost-effective, high resolution data in coastal and deep Gulf of Mexico waters. Texas A&M University College of Geosciences and the Department of Oceanography (TAMU), in partnership with GERG, have purchased two Slocum G2 200m gliders, which will be operational in the summer of 2013. These gliders are the initial start of a state-of-the-art ocean observing facility in the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) that will include AUVs and fixed observing platforms. Current progress of the operational glider center and missions to-date will be presented here.