Solomon Sea Ocean Transport from Gliders

The western boundary current of the South Pacific Tropical Gyre flows through the Solomon Sea and then to the equator. The degree to which this flow affects the equatorial zone and global climate depends on its transport of water and heat.

These transports have been measured since 2007 by underwater gliders crossing the Sea seasonally to monthly. Ocean temperature and salinity profiles and depth-average current are measured every few km to depths of 500 to 1000 m. Velocity shear can be inferred from measured density. Phenomena of interest are ENSO and flow in the Equatorial Undercurrent.

Time Span
Aug 2007 - MAY 2020
Observations
Temperature, Salinity, Currents
Region
Solomon Sea (Pacific)
Principal Investigator
Daniel Rudnick
Funded by
NOAA's GOMO Program

Science Quality Binned Project Data

Cleaned, post-processed and vertically binned to meet user needs

Project Dataset Processing

  • Averaged to 10-m vertical bins
  • Vertical binning improves ease of use
  • The 10-m bins allow for easy integration of ADCP acoustic backscatter and velocity data
  • Filtered using QC flags
  • Only high-quality data are represented in each bin

Access Options

Data are available in CF compliant NetCDF files and are also available via our ERDDAP server which offers additional file types, data subsetting, visualization options and more.

Solomon Sea Project

MAR 2017 - PRESENT
NetCDF ERDDAP Details

How to Cite

When using this dataset, please cite the data as:

Davis, R. (2016). Solomon Sea Ocean Transport from Gliders [Data set]. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Instrument Development Group. doi: 10.21238/S8SPRAY2718

Publications

Johnston, T. M. S., D. L. Rudnick, and W. S. Kessler, 2024: Elevated mixing estimates and trapped near‐inertial internal waves on the inshore flank of the New Guinea Coastal Undercurrent from sustained glider observations in the Solomon Sea. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 129, doi: 10.1029/2024JC021626.
Davis, R. E., L. D. Talley, D. Roemmich, B. Owens, D. L. Rudnick, J. Toole, R. Weller, M. J. McPhadden, and J. A. Barth, 2019: 100 Years of Progress in Ocean Observing Systems. Meteorological Monographs; doi: 10.1175/AMSMONOGRAPHS-D-18-0014.1
Davis, R. E., Kessler, W. S., & Sherman, J. T. (2012). Gliders Measure Western Boundary Current Transport from the South Pacific to the Equator. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 42(11), 2001-2013; doi: 10.1175/JPO-D-12-022.1
Gourdeau, L., Kessler, W. S., Davis, R. E., Sherman, J., Maes, C., & Kestenare, E. (2008). Zonal jets entering the Coral Sea. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 38(3), 715-725; doi: 10.1175/2007jpo3780.1