After crossing the shelf and entering open water last week, Silbo managed to make steady progress eastward while feeling the effects of a consistent push to the west towards shore. This westward current however cut Silbos speed in half from 30+ km a day to ~15. The model visualizations below show a representation of the area:
Copernicus Forecast May 13
In the Copernicus forecast, it appears that Silbo is in the midst of a filament breaking off of the northern wall of the gulf stream to become a small warm core eddy. However the currents reported by Silbo say the flow is in the opposite direction as shown in the american models below.
Oscar Forecast May 12
In the Oscar output about and the ROTFS Forecast below, both visualizations are showing a cold core eddy breaking off of the large jet producing the westward current being reported by Silbo.
RTOFS Forecast May 13
In an attempt to break free of this current, Ben is issuing a new waypoint to the south that will help steer the glider free of the head current and into the Gulf Stream
Force Wind Sea & Honor