Optimum sampling designs for a glider-mooring observing network

AbstractOcean observing systems (OOSs) constituted by moorings and gliders are becoming relevant in oceanographic and climate studies. In these observing networks, the temporal variability is captured by mooring observations, while the spatial variability is obtained from gliders sampling in the surrounding area. The advent of this observing capability brings the need to find optimal procedures to sample a given ocean region with a glider in the presence of a neighboring mooring, in order to maximize the information content of the data collected by this observing network. Different criteria (e.g., A, G, or E optimality) commonly used in the geosciences to obtain an optimum design lead to different sampling strategies. The question of which criterion performs better for optimal design in the marine environment remains open. This work investigates optimal procedures to sample a given ocean region with a glider in the presence of a mooring. Specifically, observing systems simulation experiments (OSSEs) are c...