Posted: 16 March 2022

Working in partnership with Teledyne Marine, the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) are pleased to announce a new European Glider Service Centre.

Based at their Southampton UK headquarters, the Service Centre will offer an official service, support and repair facility for Teledyne Slocum Gliders.

Huw Gullick, Associate Director of NOC Innovations Ltd, said, “Our new NOC Glider Service Centre builds on years of expertise from servicing our own underwater glider fleet – part of the largest autonomous vehicle fleet in Europe – to offer a commercial service incorporating our own in-house Calibration Laboratory and Pressure Testing Facility.”

Glider servicing

The NOC has been equipping, servicing and operating gliders on extended scientific missions for over 15 years along with designing and building our own novel AUVs. We are placed at the heart of underwater glider operations in Europe, having developed unique expertise in this pioneering field. This allows us to offer a commercial service maintaining both your glider fleet and peace of mind. As autonomy increasingly leads the way in oceanic research, weather forecasting and naval operations; gliders are becoming an increasingly popular platform for sensor deployment thanks to unrivalled range, duration and low cost.

This is leading to an increase in the size of the European fleet and with it, increased demand for glider servicing (including sensor calibration, pressure testing and ballasting), piloting, training – all of which can be done at the NOC.

Learn more about our glider capability

Calibration Laboratory

The NOC are able to perform CTD and many WetLabs sensor calibrations in-house, in our own Calibration Laboratory. This dramatically improves lead times along with reducing the risk to your sensors caused by additional transport and handling.

Learn more about our Calibration Laboratory

Pressure testing

Two hyperbaric pressure testing tanks are available to the Glider Service Centre, to allow testing down to 6000m water depth equivalent. This allows us to ensure your payload bay is properly tested prior to deployment, ensuring peace of mind and avoiding costly delays.

Learn more about our testing facilities

Contact

The NOC Glider Service Centre officially opens on 25 April 2022.

Visit us for information and enquiries