An autonomous ocean glider called Redwing is currently making its way from the continental shelf off Cape Cod to the Gulf Stream. If all goes as planned, Redwing will be the first ocean glider to circumnavigate the globe.
Shea Quinn is in charge of the project for Teledyne Webb Research, in North Falmouth. He said the mission will take several years.
"Right now, we're looking at probably around four-and-a-half to five years," Quinn said. "These are slow moving vehicles, which is why they're so efficient, why they can stay out to sea for so long and why they can cross such large lengths. But it's only moving at three quarters of a knot to a knot max.”
Redwing is equipped with a conductivity, temperature and depth sensor. Quinn noted conductivity is a measurement of salinity and can be related to density, temperature and depth. When Redwing surfaces, that information will be uploaded in real time to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Integrated Ocean Observing System database.
"This data is going to be fed into these global ocean models to help scientists, oceanographers, understand what's going on," he said.
In fact, Quinn said Redwing has already contributed data to NOAA.
"Right after we put this glider in the water, a huge nor'easter blew up the East Coast as well," Quinn said. "So we were immediately having data from this glider starting to contribute to that model."
Redwing is also carrying a receiver to detect tagged marine animals and could shed new light on migration habits.
Rutgers University is a partner in the mission and students there are helping to track the glider and chart its course. The public can follow Redwing's progress through the University's online tracker.
