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Underwater glider missions — Mid-Atlantic Bight & Gulf Stream

Find autonomous underwater glider deployments in a region, with full QARTOD-flagged variable lists and per-mission metadata.

What this teaches

  • Using the IOOS collection (Glider Data Assembly Center)
  • Reading mission-level metadata (institution, deployment dates, project)
  • Filtering on a wide bbox spanning shelf and open ocean

Source used: IOOS (IOOS Glider Data Assembly Center, ERDDAP)

Prompt

Show me underwater glider missions in the Mid-Atlantic / Gulf Stream
region. I'm interested in long deployments and shelf surveys. Give me
the mission metadata and ERDDAP links.

Transcript

1. Scope to Mid-Atlantic + Gulf Stream

search_datasets(
  collections = "IOOS",
  bbox = "-77,35,-69,42",
  limit = 10
)

Real results include:

Mission ID Institution Description
sp213-20260317T1523 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Spray glider Gulf Stream crossing — mission spanning Miami to Cape Cod, ~100 days, 6–10 stream crossings, 800+ profiles to 1000 m
ru28-20140815T1405 Rutgers University NJ shelf dissolved-oxygen survey, August 2014
ru28-20140717T1432 Rutgers University NJ shelf dissolved-oxygen survey, July 2014

Each mission is a STAC TrajectoryProfile item with QARTOD-flagged variables: temperature, salinity, conductivity, density, pressure, chlorophyll_a (mission-dependent), doxy (dissolved oxygen, mission-dependent), and full qartod_*_primary_flag quality columns.

2. Get a sample mission's ERDDAP page

get_item(collection = "IOOS", item_id = "sp213-20260317T1523")

Asset includes the ERDDAP tabledap form, NetCDF download, CSV/JSON variants, and ISO 19115 metadata XML.

Result the agent gave

"13 glider missions in the Mid-Atlantic / Gulf Stream bbox. Most recent + most notable:

  • sp213-20260317T1523 — Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Spray glider, mission deployed 2026-03-17. Per the catalog description, this is part of the Gliders in the Gulf Stream project: each mission lasts ~100 days, with the glider being advected from Miami to Cape Cod while making 6–10 stream crossings and returning ~800 profiles to 1000 m or seafloor depth. The bbox -80.26°W to -50.24°W, 20.37°N to 35.92°N reflects the ambitious downstream advection.
  • ru28-20140815T1405 and ru28-20140717T1432 — Rutgers University deployments on the NJ shelf in summer 2014, described as 'measure dissolved oxygen levels in the shallow coastal waters of New Jersey.' Smaller bboxes (-74.78°W to -73.84°W) reflecting shelf-only operation.*

Each item is a STAC TrajectoryProfile carrying QARTOD-flagged variables (temperature, salinity, conductivity, density, pressure, plus chlorophyll/dissolved-oxygen depending on payload). Download via the IOOS Glider DAC ERDDAP at https://gliders.ioos.us/erddap — select dataset → variable subset → format (NetCDF, CSV, OPeNDAP, ISO 19115)."

Variations

  • Specific platform: filter q = "spray" for Spray gliders only, q = "slocum" for Slocum gliders.
  • Active missions only: combine with a recent datetime = ".." open-ended range.
  • Cross-source: also include SPRAY (Scripps Spray Data Server) and VOICE_OF_THE_OCEAN (VOTO Foundation) for non-IOOS glider data.
  • Variables filter: filter on aquaview:column_stats_summary.variables.Dissolved Oxygen.count > 0 to find missions that recorded DO.