Ocean gliders as tools for acoustic tomography

Abstract

Ocean gliders are capable and increasingly ubiquitous platforms for collecting oceanographic data such as temperature and salinity measurements. These data alone are useful for ocean acoustic tomography applications, but gliders equipped with acoustic receivers can also record transmissions from acoustic sources, potentially providing additional paths for tomographic inversions. There are challenges associated with the use of gliders as tomography receivers, however, notably the uncertainty in underwater glider position, which can lead to ambiguity between sound-speed and glider position. Glider-based acoustic receptions from moored tomography sources can provide range measurements to aid in subsea glider localization. These data can be used in post-processing for precise glider positioning and in real-time for glider navigation. The current state of the art will be reviewed, and preliminary results will be presented from an experiment in the Arctic Ocean, which seeks to use moored acoustic tomography source signals for both subsea glider positioning and real-time navigation, including navigation under ice. [Work sponsored by ONR.]