Flight Across the Atlantic University Flight Across the Atlantic

What is an AUV/glider? Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Remotely controlled through satellites Connection available when glider is at the surface Sampling devices CTD (standard) Optics Chlorophyll Turbidity Light penetration

How they work Battery packs supply power to Buoyancy Driven Control board Sensors Pump Air Bladder Buoyancy Driven Buoyancy Pump

Communication Satellite Iridium phone Send new missions and waypoints Receive data files from glider Currents, Roll, Pitch, Heading, etc.

RU17 was deployed off the coast of New Jersey on May 21st at 1:25pm The Adventure Begins… Tests were run and everything looked good Had lithium packs in it rather than alkalines RU17 was deployed off the coast of New Jersey on May 21st at 1:25pm

On May 24th RU17 crossed the shelfbreak Flew deep to avoid fishing boats Flew from 30 to 90 meters Goal was to pass through the shelf before memorial day fishing & boating activity Only the 2nd time we tried the “fly deep” strategy to get across the shelf

RU17 entered the warmest waters of the Gulf Stream on May 31st The Gulf Stream brought extremely fast currents RU17’s speed increased to 222 cm per second

June 19 RU17 crossed the 2,000 km mark

RU17 continues to follow warm water currents Sea Surface Temperature satellite data is used to select waypoint for glider **Point out eddy currents

Sea Surface Temperature Satellite Data Using sea surface temperature Problems: cloud coverage and resolution

Altimetry Satellite Data Switched from using sea surface temperature to using both sst and sea surface height Sst: shows location in warm or cold core eddies Ssh: shows velocity vectors of the water

On July 19th Tropical Storm Bertha passes over RU17 reported increasing currents to the North

On August 20 RU17 reached 50.1% across the Atlantic Ocean

A month later RU17 reaches its 4 months & 5,000 km mark

On September 22nd RU17 gets stuck in an eddy Inertial currents slow us down

Lap 2

RU17 is about 500 km away from Flores

October 27th Ru17 aborts mission for a leak RU17 hit the inflection point at about 98 m At about 47m (11 minutes into the ascent) the leak detects voltage changes Within 2 minutes the voltage drops from about 1.1 to 1.05   RU17 aborted for a leak and headed to the surface Emergency rescue mission is planned ABORT HISTORY: last abort cause: MS_ABORT_LEAK sensor: m_vacuum(inHg)=8.12776288306713 5.158 secs ago sensor: m_leakdetect_voltage(volts)=1.05079366266727 52.628 secs ago

On October 28th we lost connection with RU17 RU17 was within 20 km of the Azores EEZ line Leak detect voltage drops to 0.42 volts Lost connection with RU17

RU17’s full path

RU17 Accomplishments RU17 flew a record breaking distance of 5,700.59 km RU17 spent 160 days at sea (5 months and 1 week)

Changes made to RU27: the Stretch Glider for the 2nd Atlantic Crossing CTD Mount CTD mounts to glider on both ends so it is sturdier Pressure Sensors Now plastic rather then metal to prevent corrosion 200 meter pump RU17 had a 100 meter pump Biofoul Precautions Rubberized hull coating Biofoul paint Aerodynamic Wingrails Coulomb Meter Measures the amount of power left in the batteries Software Better software for flying deep

RU 27 Test Flight 1)Power – coulomb meter test 2) Flight controls – Pitch 3) Fight controls – heading 4) Flight controls – vertical velocity, pitch, CTD flow 5) CTD Sampling – turning it on and off 6) Currents – being reported and processed 7) Stay deep behavior 8) Emergency weight 9) Pump performance 10) Air bladder test 11) Science computer 12) H-moment – where is it and how does it compare to RU17 ***Update how everything went after RU27 is recovered

RU27 Mission Plan RU27 will be deployed off the coast of New Jersey If we have any problems we have Nova Scotia as our emergency stop After passing Nova Scotia our next emergency stop is the Azores We are aiming to make it across the Atlantic Ocean and recover in Spain