Hey All,
So as the days pass by, Silbo inches further across our maps as he closes in on his last stop before he makes landfall on the shores of Gran Canaria. The ESTOC Zone.
This area is important in studying seasonal variation in the canaries current, and Silbo’s data will make a historical contribution to a long standing time series that has recorded such changes.
But as for now, it looks like we must dodge ‘bullets’ as we make our way to the desired location before we head for our scheduled recovery on May 21.
Ship Traffic May 10
The bullets mentioned are the shipping traffic through the area. This past day has been exceptionally busy as a number of large ships have passed close to the estoc zone and near where Silbo will be surfacing over the next few days.
NLOM Sea Surface Height & NCOM Currents May 5-May 9
Because of the increased ship traffic, it is now more important than ever to keep a close eye on the currents to make sure we are not swept into unfavorable areas. Above, we see the ncom/nlom models from may 5- may 9 showing the movements of eddies around silbo and the rotation of currents towards the south.
Hycom Density & Currents
Hycom Temperature & Currents
Hycom Salinity & Currents
Hycom Sea Surface Height & Currents
While the Hycom model products shown above of density, temperature, salinity and sea surface height show slight resemblance of the south east flux shown by the ncom/nlom, the currents vary at depth resulting in the eastern reading on silbos currents calculations.
Dave Aragon also provided us with a helpful google earth overlay this morning depicting the bathymetry around the island.
Finally, I will leave everyone with a pretty cool image of the modis satellite products of temperature and chlorophyll.
Force Wind Sea and Honor All!
Nilsen & Antonio