Published Research



Hundreds of science and research papers have been published featuring Wave Gliders as an enabling technology.
Selected publications include:



GNSS-Acoustic Observations of Seafloor Crustal Deformation Using a Wave Glider

Iinuma, Takeshi, Motoyuki Kido, Yusaku Ohta, Tatsuya Fukuda, Fumiaki Tomita, and Iwao Ueki

Crustal deformation of the seafloor is difficult to observe solely using global navigation satellite system (GNSS). The GNSS-acoustic (GNSS-A) technique was developed to observe seafloor crustal deformation, and it has produced a steady series of successful observations with remarkable results related to crustal deformation associated with huge earthquakes around […]

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Evaluation of a New Carbon Dioxide System for Autonomous Surface Vehicles

Sabine, Christopher, Adrienne Sutton, Kelly McCabe, Noah Lawrence-Slavas, Simone Alin, Richard Feely, Richard Jenkins et al

Current carbon measurement strategies leave spatiotemporal gaps that hinder the scientific understanding of the oceanic carbon biogeochemical cycle. Data products and models are subject to bias because they rely on data that inadequately capture mesoscale spatiotemporal (kilometers and days to weeks) changes. High-resolution measurement strategies need to be implemented […]

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Mapping Fish Chorus Distributions in Southern California Using an Autonomous Wave Glider

Pagniello, Camille MLS, Megan A. Cimino, and Eric Terrill

Passive acoustics is a tool to monitor behavior, distributions, and biomass of marine invertebrates, fish, and mammals. Typically, fixed passive acoustic monitoring platforms are deployed, using a priori knowledge of the location of the target vocal species. Here, we demonstrate the ability to conduct coastal surveys of fish choruses, […]

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Impacts of urban carbon dioxide emissions on sea-air flux and ocean acidification in nearshore waters

Devon Northcott, Jeff Sevadjian, Diego A. Sancho-Gallegos, Chris Wahl, Jules Friederich, and Francisco P. Chavez

Temporal variation in the structure and location of dynamic ocean features make them challenging to observe. Beyond requiring sufficient persistence and speed of the sensor platform, effective observation is augmented by autonomous feature detection coupled with adaptive localization of mapping effort. These capabilities enable observations to remain localized within […]

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Autonomous tracking of an oceanic thermal front by a Wave Glider

Yanwu Zhang, Carlos Rueda, Brian Kieft, John P. Ryan, Christopher Wahl, Thomas C. O’Reilly, Thom Maughan, and Francisco P. Chavez

Temporal variation in the structure and location of dynamic ocean features make them challenging to observe. Beyond requiring sufficient persistence and speed of the sensor platform, effective observation is augmented by autonomous feature detection coupled with adaptive localization of mapping effort. These capabilities enable observations to remain localized within […]

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Optimal path shape for range-only underwater target localization using a Wave Glider

Masmitja, Ivan, Spartacus Gomariz, Joaquin Del-Rio, Brian Kieft, Tom O’Reilly, Pierre-Jean Bouvet, and Jacopo Aguzzi

Underwater localization using acoustic signals is one of the main components in a navigation system for an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) as a more accurate alternative to dead-reckoning techniques. Although different methods based on the idea of multiple beacons have been studied, other approaches use only one beacon, which […]

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Ocean Observatories: An Engineering Challenge

Baggeroer, Arthur B., Bruce M. Howe, Peter N. Mikhalevsky, John Orcutt, and Henrik Schmidt

Observatories are important components for ocean research in most developed countries with a coastline. For many decades oceanographic institutions followed what one might term “expeditionary research”: ships went to places to investigate various ocean processes; observations were made and often sensors were deployed to record data for subsequent retrieval. […]

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Summer diatom blooms in the eastern North Pacific gyre investigated with a long-endurance autonomous surface vehicle

Anderson, Emily E., Cara Wilson, Anthony H. Knap, and Tracy A. Villareal

Satellite chlorophyll a (chl a) observations have repeatedly noted summertime phytoplankton blooms in the North Pacific subtropical gyre (NPSG), a region of open ocean that is far removed from any land-derived or Ekman upwelling nutrient sources. These blooms are dominated by N2-fixing diatom-cyanobacteria associations of the diatom genera Rhizosolenia […]

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Sea Surface Height Measurement Using a GNSS Wave Glider

Penna, Nigel T., Miguel A. Morales Maqueda, Ian Martin, Jing Guo, and Peter R. Foden

To overcome spatial and temporal limitations of sea surface height (SSH) instruments such as tide gauges, satellite altimetry and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) buoys, we investigate the use of an unmanned, self‐propelled Wave Glider surface vehicle equipped with a geodetic GNSS receiver. Centimetric precision instantaneous SSH measurement is […]

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Seafloor geodesy: Acoustic direct-path ranging for monitoring seafloor deformation

Petersen, Florian, Heidrun Kopp, Dietrich Lange, Katrin Hannemann, and Morelia Urlaub

Abstract: The seafloor stores crucial information on sub-seafloor processes, including stress, elastic strain, and earthquakes. This information may be extracted through the nascent scientific field of seafloor geodesy. The GeoSEA (Geodetic Earthquake Observatory on the SEAfloor) array uses acoustic signals for direct-path ranging and relative positioning at mm-scale resolution […]

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Evaluation of satellite and reanalysis wind products with in situ Wave Glider wind observations in the Southern Ocean

Schmidt, Kevin M., Sebastiaan Swart, Chris Reason, and Sarah Nicholson

Abstract: Surface ocean wind datasets are required to be of high spatial and temporal resolution and high precision to accurately force or be assimilated into coupled atmosphere-ocean numerical models and understand ocean-atmospheric processes. In situ observed sea surface winds from the Southern Ocean are scarce and consequently the validity […]

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Sustained Measurements of Southern Ocean Air-Sea Coupling from a Wave Glider Autonomous Surface Vehicle

Thomson, J., and J. Girton

Abstract: The four-month mission of a Wave Glider in the Southern Ocean has demonstrated the capability for an autonomous surface vehicle to make sustained measurements of air-sea interactions in remote regions. Several new sensor payloads were integrated for this mission, including a three-axis sonic anemometer for turbulent wind stress […]

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NOAA Research Laboratory Work