SoMAS Ocean Glider Program

Cruise SBU01-8

October 11, 2022
Deployed ~5 miles south of Shinnecock Inlet from the RV Parker at 40o 45.083', 72o 23.890'
Mission started on October 11, 2022 at 1924 GMT
Glider aborted on October 29, 2022 near Hudson Canyon and then lost contact.   

On October 11 at 1935 GMT the glider was sent off forth on cruise SBU01-08.  Sensors included the CTD with pH, Ecopuck, DO and a small Vemco fish chip receiver mounted on top.  Here is a picture of glider ready for is first test dive. 

This deployment did not end quite as expected and turned into a bit of a saga.  As the plots for SBU01-08 below show, the cruise seemed to end half-way through out at the edge of the shelf.  On October 29th we lost contact with the glider.  That sometimes happens if the glider gets swamped by a big wave but it usually calls back.  Didn't this time.  In fact we did not hear from it for days and were about to write it off.  Then on November 5th, a week after we'd lost contact, it called home ~160km southwest of where it was when last heard from.  Great excitement!  The glider then proceeded north at ~7kts.  That's not usual so clearly it was on a boat.  We then tracked the unit back ashore, across Delaware, into Maryland and to the backyard of Tom (Butch) Wright.  Butch and a friend were fishing over one of the canyons at the edge of the the shelf in his boat, Off Site, when they heard a thump and looked over the side and there was the glider.  The best guess is that the glider was caught in some fishing gear and it was that that got snagged on the boat's propeller.  The glider was fine.  At least no propeller marks.  One question was, why did Butch bring the glider aboard?  There is a sticker on the glider that gives the SBU contact information and also says to retrieve the glider after a certain date which is updated for each deployment.  So, thinking that this deployment should end by mid-November but thinking October, the retrieve date was written as "Oct 15".  Turns out to have been a good error because the next port of call for the glider was going to be Ireland.  So hurrah for Butch!  The glider is back at SoMAS and undergoing a "post mortem".  The next deployment is scheduled for February.


Webpage with near realtime data plots

Matfile with post cruise data