SLOCUM PROFILING VEHICLE FOR LONG-TERM GLOBAL OCEAN OBSERVATION

STUDIES SUCH AS GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE AND LARGE SCALE OCEAN CIRCULATION REQUIRE LONG TERM, LOW-COST, WIDE COVERAGE MEASUREMENTS TO THE INTERIOR OF THE OCEAN. PHASE I DEVELOPMENT PROPOSES THE SLOCUM PROFILER, AN AUTONOMOUS, NEUTRALLY BUOYANT AUV WHICH DERIVES ITS PROPULSIVE ENERGY FOR VERTICAL ASCENTS/DESCENTS FROM THE OCEAN THERMAL GRADIENT, AS A CANDIDATE MEASURMENT SYSTEM. SPECIFICALLY, PHASE I DEVELOPMENT WOULD ENTAIL THE BUILDING OF ONE SLOCUM TEMPERATURE/DEPTH PROFILER FROM PARTS ALREADY ON HAND. THE UNIT WOULD BE TESTED IN A 20 FT. FRESHWATER TANK, THERMALLY STRATIFIED TO SIMULATE THE ACTUAL OCEAN THERMAL GRADIENT. PERFORMANCE DATA WOULD BE CAPTURED VIA ITS ARGOS SATELLITE UPLINK TRANSMISSIONS. A PHASE II SCIENCE MISSION DEPLOYMENT OF SIX SLOCUM PROFILERS WILL BE PLANNED WITH PARTICULAR EMPHASIS ON IDENTIFICATION OF MEASURED VARIABLES, DEPLOYMENT RESOURCES, DATA FORMATS AND PROCESSING MEANS.