"Follow the Glider": a new web based educational tool for autonomous underwater submarines released by SOCIB in colaboration with CEFAS and IMEDEA (UIB-CSIC)

Follow the Glider is a website for students and teachers created by CEFAS (Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science ), IMEDEA (CSIC -UIB ) and SOCIB in the framework of EU project JERICO (http://www.jerico-fp7.eu/). JERICO 's intention is to advance towards a joint European research infrastructure network of coastal observatories. 
Follow the Glider (www.followtheglider.com) is a multi-language web based educational tool for european children, schools and the general public with interest in new ocean monitoring technologies such as autonomous underwater gliders. This tool allows students and teachers to follow the path of the gliders in near real time, browse historic missions, understand the data collected and value the importance of coastal research to develop predictive models and deal with phenomena such as climate change and/or sound and science based coastal and ocean management.

This website, besides the possibility of tracking the path of the gliders, has graphic explanations on the functioning of these submarines and on the interpretation of data such as salinity, temperature, or the amount of chlorophyll and oxygen concentration. In addition, teachers will find a specific area, designed to help them use the tool in a targeted manner, with to do activities in the classroom.

The gliders are small unmanned autonomous submarines, used to observe the seas and oceans. The vehicle has a number of sensors to measure parameters such as temperature , salinity , turbidity , chlorophyll and oxygen concentration of the water, all variables that are essential to establish the ocean state and its variability and by this understand the functioning of marine ecosystems. Among the many advantages provided by the gliders are reducing the cost of missions, the quasi real time transmission of data to SOCIB based Data Centre, and the low power consumption: the glider has no engine nor fuel, but uses buoyancy changes to glide from the surface to 1000 m depths, and endurance time of up to 3 months at sea.

To learn more about underwater gliders please visit: www.followtheglider.com