Gliders Deployed and Ready for Action

The Coastal and Global Scale Nodes (CGSN) team has officially arrived at the Irminger Array, marking a major milestone in this year’s field season.

First up on the operational checklist? Glider deployment.

Two autonomous underwater gliders were successfully launched and are now running in a holding pattern near the array. These sleek, torpedo-shaped robots are already being closely monitored by our expert glider pilots, who are checking in on vehicle health and making sure all onboard systems are functioning properly.

The gliders will remain on standby until mooring operations are complete, a critical step in securing the array’s infrastructure on the seafloor. Once those operations are wrapped up, the gliders will be cleared to begin their science mission: patrolling the waters of the Irminger Sea, circling the array, and collecting data for up to one full year.

This long-duration mission will deliver high-resolution insights into one of the North Atlantic’s most dynamic and challenging environments, contributing to our understanding of climate variability, deep-water formation, and ocean circulation.