Exploring the potential of ocean gliders: a pirate-proof technique to illuminate mesoscale physical-biological interactions off the coast of Oman (2015-2016).

(1) University of East Anglia School of Environmental Sciences; (2) Sultan Qaboos University College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences

This dataset consists of observations from two autonomous underwater gliders deployed by the University of East Anglia, UK and Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. The two Seagliders, Humpback serial number SG579 and Orca serial number SG510, collected data to investigate physical-biological interactions in the water column. The gliders were deployed in the Gulf of Oman approximately 10 km from Muscat, at the 120 m isobath. Both gliders repeatedly surveyed a 76 km section across the shelf, continental slope and open ocean between 24 15' N, 59 0' E and 23 39.5' N, 58 39' E. Humpback, SG579 obtained 1,424 vertical profiles over a 91 day period (4 March 2015 to 3 June 2015), repeating the section 24 times. Orca, SG510 obtained 1,646 vertical profiles over a 109 day period (9 December 2015 to 27 March 2016), repeating the section 28 times. The glider data were processed using the UEA Seaglider Toolbox and standard techniques were used for calibration of the data. The data are held at BODC as a series of netCDF, .eng and .log files alongside a .mat file containing all processed data.