The Naval Oceanographic Office deployed two deep-water gliders and the University of Southern Mississippi deployed one shallow-water glider in the Gulf of Mexico, Sept. 14, to provide real-time data to support the ocean content models that aid in hurricane intensity forecasting.

The Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) deployed two 1,000-meter gliders and the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) deployed one 200-meter glider.

NAVOCEANO Chief Scientist Carl Szczechowski explained, "Sea surface temperature is a poor indicator of where tropical systems can strengthen. We need to know how deep the warm (greater than 26 C or 79 F) water exists. The deeper the warm water, the more a storm can extract energy out of the ocean. Hurricane Katrina strengthened due to high tropical cyclone heat potential (TCHP)."

Gliders are autonomous underwater vehicles used to measure temperature, conductivity, optical beam attenuation and pressure. Civilian pilots command and control NAVOCEANO gliders 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the Glider Operations Center at Stennis Space Center.

Every year, NAVOCEANO, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Air Force Hurricane Hunters, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), U.S. Naval Academy, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and other ocean glider-operating agencies have been deploying ocean gliders profiling floats and Airborne EXpendable BathyThermographs (AXBTs) in order to assess the thermal structure of the Gulf of Mexico (GOMEX).

The gliders were launched near Mississippi Canyon in support of an ongoing project between NAVOCEANO, USM, NOAA and Shell Oil. They will be investigating the area within and near the loop current eddy and providing real-time data to support the ocean content models that aide in hurricane intensity forecasting.
NOAA publishes estimates of TCHP for the world daily based on a combination of satellite data and ocean physics models: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/cyclone/data/go.html.

NAVOCEANO, comprised of approximately 800 military, civilian and contractor personnel, uses a variety of platforms including ships, aircraft, satellite sensors, buoys and unmanned underwater vehicles to collect oceanographic and hydrographic data from the world's oceans.

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