The currents reported by RU29 have rotated to northwest, but the good news is they are still relatively small at about 11 cm/sec.
RU29 is making good progress in these conditions, using her speed to push east.
If we keep this track, we enter the South African EEZ on the northern side of an Agulhas eddy lying just inside the EEZ that carries us even closer to shore.
OSCAR Forecast Mar 9
First current map is from the OSCAR product showing we are in a very low flow zone that extends to the EEZ. As long as the flow is low, we are good with the direction error we are currently seeing in OSCAR locally.
Copernicus Forecast Mar 9
Second current map is Copernicus, the most reliable product of the entire trip. Copernicus says we are crossing the middle of a strong jet to the Southwest. It is clearly wrong about the jet. Currents are weak to northwest.
HYCOM Product for previous week
Third map is HYCOM, the newcomer to the mix. It is in very good agreement with the observed currents by Challenger. HYCOM says there is a small area of slow currents on our way to South Africa, and we should stay about this latitude since if we go south, we encounter a strong current to the west.
HYCOM Forecast Mar 9
Fourth map is the HYCOM forecast, showing the jet to our south is forecast to strengthen.
It is nice to know this forecast, that if this jet is true, and if we somehow drift south,
we may encounter a current that opposes our progress. if we do encounter this current, we would try to fly back north to get out of it and back into the calm water. But right now with the northward ocean currents, and keeping RU29 focused on east, the likelihood of us drifting south into this current is low.
Historical Vessel Traffic
Finally we have the historical vessel track data that outlines the path ships have taken over the past couple of years. The glider is currently flying through an area that is more heavily trafficked and so we will try and keep surface time to a minimum to avoid being struck by boats.
Force Wind Sea & Honor