Slocum Glider

Slocum gliders are manufactured by Teledyne Webb Research and operate by moving up and down in the water column using a buoyancy pump. The pump only operates at the beginning and end of a dive; therefore the vehicle is silent during descent and ascent, making it ideal for passive acoustic monitoring.

Short wings provide lift and passively generating forward momentum during descent and ascent. Slocum gliders are capable of moving horizontally at slow speeds (< 1 knot), and they can stay at sea for weeks to months at a time. They are equipped with oceanographic sensors, a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, and an Iridium satellite modem that allows two-way communication with a shore-side computer.

The vehicle is navigated simply by providing new waypoints to the vehicle during Iridium communication sessions; the vehicle is capable of self-navigating to these waypoints using a compass, GPS and its rudder. The DMON hydrophone is mounted externally in acoustically transparent urethane.

Publications:

Baumgartner, M.F., J. Bonnell, P.J. Corkeron, S.M. Van Parijs, C. Hotchkin, B.A. Hodges, J. Bort Thornton, B.L. Mensi and S.M. Bruner. 2020. Slocum gliders provide accurate near real-time estimates of baleen whale presence from human-reviewed passive acoustic detection information. Frontiers in Marine Science 7:100, doi: 10.3389/fmars.2020.00100.

Baumgartner, M.F., K.M. Stafford, P. Winsor, H. Statscewich, and D.M. Fratantoni. 2014. Glider-based passive acoustic monitoring in the Arctic. Marine Technology Society Journal 40(5):40-51. (Special Issue on "Progress in Polar Research Instrumentation and Methodologies"). PDF

Baumgartner, M.F., D.M. Fratantoni, T.P. Hurst, M.W. Brown, T.V.N. Cole, S.M. Van Parijs, and M. Johnson. 2013. Real-time reporting of baleen whale passive acoustic detections from ocean gliders. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 134:1814-1823. PDF