21 Oct Slocum G2 Glider Piloting And Engineering Support Now Available In South Africa

Sea Technology Services engineers, Derek Needham and André Hoek, in support of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s Ocean Systems & Climate group’s recent Slocum G2 glider acquisition, attended a piloting, maintenance and technical refurbishment course at the Teledyne Webb Research facility in Falmouth, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

The course was also attended by Sea Technology Services‘ Development and Training Manager, Natalie Turnbull, as part of Sea Technology Service’s emphasis on establishing links with various institutions and organisations locally, in Africa, and internationally, for the development of co-operative links in advancing oceanographic equipment operational and engineering support training.

The new Teledyne Webb Research Slocum G2 glider will join the existing CSIR glider fleet which operates in South African coastal waters as well as extended missions in the Southern Ocean in support of CSIR’s SOCCO program and the initiative to establish a glider port in Cape Town.

The Slocum glider will be piloted and serviced at the Southern Ocean Engineering R&D Centre (SOERDC) by Sea Technology Service’s engineers, while simultaneously being used to form part of the ongoing program to train new oceanographic and electronic engineers and expand technical capabilities in South Africa.

The Slocum glider will be delivered with a scientific sensor array consisting of the following instruments:

• Sea-Bird Electronics CTD
• Sea-Bird Electronics dissolved oxygen sensor
• WetLabs PUK three channel optical sensor
• Biospherical Instruments Photosynthetic Active Radiation (PAR) sensor