The “Gliders for Research, Ocean Observation and Management” (GROOM) infrastructure design study will evaluate the requirements to set up
a sustainable European glider infrastructure to safely operate individual as well as fleets of gliders in order to create a continuum of observations. Operations shall be coordinated to fill the gaps left by present marine observation systems on global, regional and coastal scale, with benefits for both fundamental marine research and operational oceanography.
The objective for this design study for a European glider RI are to demonstrate that:
a distributed architecture of “gliderports” around the European seas and overseas (see figure on the right), working in close coordination, is the required and cost effective way to operate fleets gliders in the combination with existing observing systems,
this infrastructure is suitable to deploy, maintain and operate individual as well as fleets of gliders continuously for operational monitoring and research.
such infrastructure can provide a world-class service to the research and environment monitoring communities.
Its foreseen principle is illustrated below.
Taking into account the existing frames and vision statement about ocean observation, the GROOM project work program will focus on:
The integration of gliders into the existing global and regional/coastal ocean observing systems, including a consistent EC-wide contribution for GMES,
The Law of the Sea and maritime traffic issues that such platforms raises,
The assessment of strategic location for a full network perspective and coordination with existing observation activities,
Research priorities to deliver new sensor capabilities for gliders in particular for biology,
The assessment of existing legal frameworks and existing RI entities for joint funding and management of the proposed RI,
Integration of the proposed RI in an international network of similar capacities, with the aim of an European leadership,
Adaptation and strengthening of existing data management e-infrastructure framework to gather and make available consistent and quality controlled datasets,
Exploiting the open access to glider data as an educational “window” on the oceans and their role in climate, resources, etc.
and, as a overall contribution, the GROOM project will propose a roadmap for a ten year implementation plan.
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