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Gliding Through the Ocean Blue

Gliding Through the Ocean Blue

April 17, 2012

Nick Woods releases an autonomous underwater glider, a tool the MIT/WHOI Joint Program student has used to explore how rich feeding areas for marine animals are created in the ocean. These vehicles “fly” through the ocean, sinking and rising by changing their center of buoyancy. The wings on their sides provide lift, which allows them to glide through the ocean for days on end. They can fly under any weather conditions, including rough seas that would send a research ship back to port. Scientists in the WHOI Autonomous Systems Lab use gliders to collect temperature, salinity, acoustic, and optical data to study ocean currents and marine life, from phytoplankton to whales. (Photo by Ben Hodges, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

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