National Oceanography Centre Opens Doors to European Glider Service Centre
Teledyne Marine and the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) have opened the doors of the new NOC Glider Service Centre; a joint partnership created for the servicing, support and repair of Teledyne Slocum Gliders from across Europe. This new partnership will benefit European glider customers, avoiding the time and expense of shipping systems back to the U.S. for service and upgrades.
The NOC Glider Service Centre will act as a central European hub to enable the NOC's leading engineers to perform calibration on CTDs (Conductivity, Temperature and Depth sensors) for autonomous gliders. The service centre is also expanding its offerings to calibrate many optical and common AUV sensors, utilizing the NOC’s own Calibration Laboratory.
Hyperbaric Pressure Testing Tanks
The centre will dramatically improve lead times while reducing the risk of damage to sensors caused by additional transport and handling. Alongside the added pressure sensors, the centre will be equipped with two hyperbaric pressure testing tanks, to allow testing down to a 6,000m water depth equivalent and enabling NOC engineers to ensure all equipment is properly tested prior to deployment, helping to further streamline the use of autonomy in global research.
NOC is at the heart of underwater glider operations in Europe, with extensive expertise in this niche field, making them more than qualified to offer this commercial service. The NOC operates the UK’s National Marine Equipment Pool, which includes Europe’s largest fleet of underwater gliders, which they have been successfully equipping, servicing and operating for extended scientific missions for over 15 years.
