Autonomous underwater vehicles are rapidly becoming the tool of choice for marine observations. Ocean gliders offer new opportunities for observing the marine environment in a multi-disciplinary and cost-effective way. They enable measurements from challenging environments that might not have been possible previously. They are buoyancy-driven rather than propeller-driven so are able to survey continuously for many months, profiling the upper 1000 m of the ocean. They can carry a variety of biological, chemical and physical sensors, and transmit their data back in real time every few hours when they surface. In this talk Professor Heywood will describe how gliders work, their advantages and disadvantages, and explain what they can measure.  She will illustrate this using example of campaigns undertaken by the University of East Anglia, since their fleet was first obtained in 2010. For more information on Professor Karen Heywood click here.