In early September 2023, we hit our personal best — 27 — for simultaneously tracking and hosting data from autonomous vehicles on our piloting dashboard, GANDALF. We’ve been tracking Slocum gliders, Saildrones and Seagliders in the Gulf of Mexico — including in Mexican waters — the Caribbean and wider Atlantic this hurricane season. And, thanks to the hard work of intern Xiao Qi, from the data science capstone project at George Washington University’s data science graduate program, GANDALF is also now displaying 80 ARGO floats, covering the same area. Data from the additional floats provides useful information for pilots — especially during tropical storms and hurricanes.

Another fantastic improvement by GCOOS Developer Bob Currier is that GANDALF now includes new layers. In addition to navigation, hydrography and Real-Time Ocean Forecast System (RTOFS) models, you can now view layers showing 6KM HF Radar, along with satellite imagery from NWS NEXRAD, LSU GOES-16, MODIS sea surface temperatures and MODIS chlorophyll. These additional layers can help operators change or update their glider missions remotely from the lab.

Partners with vehicles on the dashboard include NOAA, TAMU-GERG, University of Southern Mississippi/U.S. Navy (USM/USN), Skidaway Marine Institute of Oceanography (SKIO), the University of South Florida (USF) and Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada’s (CICESE) in Mexico.

We also welcomed a newcomer to the GANDALF dashboard: Sedna, a Slocum glider piloted by Dr. Natalia Sidorovskaia, Chair of the Physics Department at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Welcome aboard!