After we ran out of time attempting to sample the eddy to the north west of Madeira, Silbo now is fighting his best to sail back down to where our team plans to be tomorrow. Carlos and a team from PLOCAN will leave port from the southern side of Madeira tomorrow at 10am local (5am est). From there they plan on sailing west ~60 km to deploy drifters. When planning this trip, we had hoped to have the drifters deployed around Silbo to get a nice data from multiple sources and to get a nice view of our brave little droid to see if there is any biological growth on his exterior.
HYCOM Sea Surface Height
Unfortunately, we have run into a strong head current as we are trapped on the east side of a large cold eddy, which combined with the presence of the Island is producing an incredibly strong northward flux in the area. We will be keeping a close eye on silbos position as he surfaces. after each single dive to give us a new position. We are hoping to cut our way through this strong head current to try and make it to a reasonable distance to still pull off a rendezvous. We are being optimistic, but on the last segment, Silbo only covered 2km..
NCOM/NLOM Sea Surface Height and Currents
Tomorrow morning as our friends sail out for the recovery, we will try and catch their progress using the marinetraffic overlay which will easily prove its worth as we continue to the finish line where the shipping traffic is much busier than the peaceful west side of Madeira.
Marine Traffic Google Earth Overlay
We will keep everyone updated tomorrow with what excitement lies ahead.
Force Wind Sea & Honor to all
Nilsen Antonio & Oliver