%0 journal article %@ 0739-0572 %A Merckelbach, L.,Berger, A.,Krahmann, G.,Dengler, M.,Carpenter, J.R. %D 2019 %J Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology %N 2 %P 281-296 %R doi:10.1175/JTECH-D-18-0168.1 %T A Dynamic Flight Model for Slocum Gliders and Implications for Turbulence Microstructure Measurements %U https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-18-0168.1 2 %X The turbulent dissipation rate ɛ is a key parameter to many oceanographic processes. Recently gliders have been increasingly used as a carrier for microstructure sensors. Compared to conventional ship-based methods, glider-based microstructure observations allow for long duration measurements under adverse weather conditions, and at lower costs. The incident water velocity U is an input parameter for the calculation of the dissipation rate. Since U can not be measured using the standard glider sensor setup, the parameter is normally computed from a steady-state glider flight model. As ɛ scales with U2 or U4, depending whether it is computed from temperature or shear microstructure, flight model errors can introduce a significant bias. This study is the first to use measurements of in-situ glider flight, obtained with a profiling Doppler velocity log and an electromagnetic current meter, to test and calibrate a flight model, extended to include inertial terms. Compared to a previously suggested flight model, the calibrated model removes a bias of approximately 1 cm s−1 in the incident water velocity, which translates to roughly a factor of 1.2 in estimates of the dissipation rate. The results further indicate that 90% of the estimates of the dissipation rate from the calibrated model are within a factor of 1.1 and 1.2 for measurements derived from microstructure temperature sensors and shear probes, respectively. We further outline the range of applicability of the flight model.