OceanGliders: A component of the integrated GOOS

© The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Testor, P., de Young, B., Rudnick, D. L., Glenn, S., Hayes, D., Lee, C. M., Pattiaratchi, C., Hill, K., Heslop, E., Turpin, V., Alenius, P., Barrera, C., Barth, J. A., Beaird, N., Becu, G., Bosse, A., Bourrin, F., Brearley, J. A., Chao, Y., Chen, S., Chiggiato, J., Coppola, L., Crout, R., Cummings, J., Curry, B., Curry, R., Davis, R., Desai, K., DiMarco, S., Edwards, C., Fielding, S., Fer, I., Frajka-Williams, E., Gildor, H., Goni, G., Gutierrez, D., Haugan, P., Hebert, D., Heiderich, J., Henson, S., Heywood, K., Hogan, P., Houpert, L., Huh, S., Inall, M. E., Ishii, M., Ito, S., Itoh, S., Jan, S., Kaiser, J., Karstensen, J., Kirkpatrick, B., Klymak, J., Kohut, J., Krahmann, G., Krug, M., McClatchie, S., Marin, F., Mauri, E., Mehra, A., Meredith, M. P., Meunier, T., Miles, T., Morell, J. M., Mortier, L., Nicholson, S., O'Callaghan, J., O'Conchubhair, D., Oke, P., Pallas-Sanz, E., Palmer, M., Park, J., Perivoliotis, L., Poulain, P., Perry, R., Queste, B., Rainville, L., Rehm, E., Roughan, M., Rome, N., Ross, T., Ruiz, S., Saba, G., Schaeffer, A., Schonau, M., Schroeder, K., Shimizu, Y., Sloyan, B. M., Smeed, D., Snowden, D., Song, Y., Swart, S., Tenreiro, M., Thompson, A., Tintore, J., Todd, R. E., Toro, C., Venables, H., Wagawa, T., Waterman, S., Watlington, R. A., & Wilson, D. OceanGliders: A component of the integrated GOOS. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6, (2019): 422, doi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00422.
The OceanGliders program started in 2016 to support active coordination and enhancement of global glider activity. OceanGliders contributes to the international efforts of the Global Ocean Observation System (GOOS) for Climate, Ocean Health, and Operational Services. It brings together marine scientists and engineers operating gliders around the world: (1) to observe the long-term physical, biogeochemical, and biological ocean processes and phenomena that are relevant for societal applications; and, (2) to contribute to the GOOS through real-time and delayed mode data dissemination. The OceanGliders program is distributed across national and regional observing systems and significantly contributes to integrated, multi-scale and multi-platform sampling strategies. OceanGliders shares best practices, requirements, and scientific knowledge needed for glider operations, data collection and analysis. It also monitors global glider activity and supports the dissemination of glider data through regional and global databases, in real-time and delayed modes, facilitating data access to the wider community. OceanGliders currently supports national, regional and global initiatives to maintain and expand the capabilities and application of gliders to meet key global challenges such as improved measurement of ocean boundary currents, water transformation and storm forecast.
The editorial team would like to recognize the support of the global glider community to this paper. Our requests for data and information were met with enthusiasm and welcome contributions from around the globe, clearly demonstrating to us a point made in this paper that there are many active and dedicated teams of glider operators and users. We should also acknowledge the support that OceanGliders has received from the WMO/IOC JCOMM-OCG and JCOMMOPS that have allowed this program to develop, encouraging us to articulate a vision for the role of gliders in the GOOS. We acknowledge support from the EU Horizon 2020 AtlantOS project funded under grant agreement No. 633211 and gratefully acknowledge the many agencies and programs that have supported underwater gliders: AlterEco, ANR, CFI, CIGOM, CLASS Ellet Array, CNES, CNRS/INSU, CONACyT, CSIRO, DEFRA, DFG/SFB-754, DFO, DGA, DSTL, ERC, FCO, FP7, and H2020 Europen Commission, HIMIOFoTS, Ifremer, IMOS, IMS, IOOS, IPEV, IRD, Israel MOST, JSPS, MEOPAR, NASA, NAVOCEANO (Navy), NERC, NFR, NJDEP, NOAA, NRC, NRL, NSF, NSERC, ONR, OSNAP, Taiwan MOST, SANAP-NRF, SENER, SIMS, Shell Exploration and Production Company, Sorbonne Université, SSB, UKRI, UNSW, Vettleson, Wallenberg Academy Fellowship, and WWF.