Advances in the development of a new medium depth underwater glider

Abstract

Ocean exploration is becoming more and more demanding, especially with respect the technology required for surveying medium deep ocean zones. The exploration of zones between 1000 and 2500 m especially challenging due to the difficulty associated to place instruments and sensors in such deep areas. For closing the gap of knowledge in these areas, a new medium size underwater glider has been developed for allowing toe to reach most areas of the occidental mediterranean basin. The vehicle is designed to reach 2500 m of depth that allows it to reach mostly all seafloor zones in this area. Different tests have been conducted to validate the capability of the vehicle for conducting long term survey and experiments. In addition, due to the modular configuration of the vehicle, it is suitable to include different sensors or user ad-hoc instruments with a minimum process of adaptation, which provide the vehicle with an additional grade if versatility and usability. In this paper, the description, and features of the vehicle as well as the result of the last tests in the real environment are presented.