NOC RRS Discovery Cruise D376. Glider operations report, June - July 2012

This document summarises the four Slocum Electric glider deployments during the RRS Discovery Based D376 research cruise for the FASTNEt project. The deployments occurred at or close to the Celtic Sea shelf edge. The lack of small boat support for the cruise resulted in a series of procedures for glider ballasting testing, deployment and recovery being developed during the cruise. Towards the end of a cruise a glider that had been deployed with a turbulence sensor was recovered after a nine day deployment. The initial indications after the turbulence glider recovery are that a high quality, novel in water column, high resolution turbulence measurement data set has been recovered. This report provides details about the glider operational requirements for the D376 cruise and the glider fleet that was used. A series of pictures and supporting text explain the procedures that were applied during the cruise. The report concludes with a summary and details of the initial evaluation of the recovered glider scientific measurements are provided.