Using gliders to study a phytoplankton bloom in the Ross Sea, antarctica

Over the last several decades, numerous approaches have been used to observe the rapid development of the annual phytoplankton bloom in the Ross Sea, including ship-based sampling, moored instrumentation, satellite images, and computer modeling efforts. In the Austral Spring of 2010, our group deployed a pair of iRobot Seagliders equipped with fluorometers, oxygen sensors and CTDs in order to obtain data on this phenomenon over the entire duration of the bloom. Data from these deployments will be used, along with samples from the recovery cruise and satellite data, to model and better understand the dynamics of this phytoplankton bloom.