ODYSSEA Project to hold training seminar on the usage of its underwater glider
The EU-funded ODYSSEA Project will hold a five-day training seminar on the usage of the SeaExplorer Glider at the premises of project partner ALSEAMAR in Rousset, France April 8–12, 2019. At the end of an intensive week, trainees from five eastern Mediterranean and North African observatories will have gained a solid understanding and hands-on experience on how to prepare and operate the glider for scientific missions. Developed by ALSEAMAR, the SeaExplorer underwater glider is a powerful autonomous sensing platform designed to collect water column data with wide spatio-temporal coverage. The innovative multi-mission glider can cover thousands of kilometers and operate continuously for several months. Driven by buoyancy changes, the vehicle silently glides up and down the water column while collecting physical, chemical, biological and acoustic data. The two gliders developed in the context of the ODYSSEA project will carry three sets of cutting-edge sensor payloads, designed and manufactured to optimize the monitoring capacity of observatories’ networks. “The training illustrates the fact that the ODYSSEA Project is prepared to start using these state-of-the-art gliders to obtain real-time Mediterranean marine data disseminated through the newly developed ODYSSEA platform,” said ODYSSEA coordinator Prof. Georgios Sylaios from Democritus University of Thrace in Greece. “We will launch both gliders this summer in our observatories based in Al-Hoceima in Morocco and in the Thracian Sea in Greece, enabling ODYSSEA to provide unprecedented information from the southern Mediterranean and eventually to develop valuable services for local communities and the Blue Economy sector.” The SeaExplorer glider reduces reliance on large vessels with high daily running costs. No surface supervision boat is required during the mission. The SeaExplorer is easy to operate and can be deployed and recovered in coastal waters by minimal crews using small boats. “ALSEAMAR is proud to contribute to Mediterranean capacity building by bringing its support and expertise through various trainings and workshops organized in the framework of the ODYSSEA project,” said SeaExplorer sales manager Romain Tricarico. “ODYSSEA is an excellent opportunity to showcase the ease of use of the SeaExplorer glider, which has proven to be the appropriate tool to fill data gaps and cut the cost of in-situ data acquisition.”