PLOCAN Glider School: a decade of training and international engagement on ocean-glider technologies

Abstract

PLOCAN Glider School is a hands-on training forum mainly ad- dressed to ocean-glider technologies and their wide range of monitoring applications. Students and professionals from ma- rine and maritime fields interested in learning about this specif- ic and emerging autonomous ocean vehicle technology are truly welcome to join in. The PLOCAN Glider School is a training action promoted by PLOCAN since 2011 in a year-basis in line with inter- national programs and projects, that provides a state-of-the-art overview and the operational basis approach to this technology through theoretical and practical teaching sessions in both lab and open waters of Gran Canaria. The present work attempts to summarize the role and contribution of fourteen years of PLOCAN Glider School where more than two hundred-twenty attendees from thirty-six countries of the five continents have been trained, in addition to the support by twenty-eight leading companies (as technology developers in this field) and institutions (as key op- erators and end-users), enabling new user groups and the inter- national glider-community growth in support to initiatives such EOOS and GOOS aiming to a more efficient and sustainable global ocean-observing strategy based on this cutting-edge technology.