Hey All!
Just a quick update as we head into the weekend:
This afternoon we gave Silbo a new way point to the south as we try and cut across the strong east northeast current that we are in.
HYCOM Sea Surface Height
Over the past couple days we started being drawn in towards the core of the blue cold eddy as we encountered stronger currents. In an attempt to avoid being pulled up and back to the north, we are working on cutting back south across the strong east current of the bottom of the cold core eddy. If we succeed, we will be within two weeks of a rendezvous just west of Madeira and we may reach the Canaries in about 5 -6 weeks.
Also this week, we ran one dive where we had the ctd on for two consecutive up and down casts so we can keep an eye on it and make sure the data is accurate as possible. Down casts are in blue while up casts are red.
Temperature profile from surface to ~1000m collected by Silbo
Sea Water Salinity from surface to 1000m collected by Silbo
Seeing that the 4 lines are relatively close and do not show any major lags indicates the ctd is functioning correctly. Also looking at the salinity, we can see the effects of the ‘meddies’ or salty water from the Mediterranean starting at about 700m depth.
Finally I just want to leave everyone with the big picture of the obstacles that lie ahead. Aside from working our way through the eddies that lie between Silbo and the sunny shores of the Canaries, there are also a number of heavily trafficked areas when we start getting closer to land. It will be crucial to keep an eye on such resources such as localizada and marine traffic’s ais data to make sure Silbo is not struck by any ships
Force Wind Sea & Honor
Nilsen & Antonio