The foremost objective of the KAUST/Aramco Red Sea glider program is to understand the processes that drive the physics, biology and chemistry of the Red Sea on what makes it a functional ecosystem. With the previous predominant use of research ships, researchers and scientists alike only had access to occasional observational snapshots of the Red Sea.
Traditionally researchers could spend upwards of two weeks at a time on these vessels, and essential processes were difficult to capture. With the advent of autonomous platform devices - including gliders and profiling floats, marine researchers at KAUST can now receive specific, detailed and live measurements in situ, capturing the annual variability of physical and biogeochemical processes that define the sea itself.
Read the full article at KAUST Discovery.