Category: Challenger Mission (Page 12 of 37)

As we strive closer towards the shores of Sao Paulo, the team has been bouncing ideas around on how we can kill time.  This mission thus far has gone incredibly smoothly as we have been flying at speeds upwards of 30 km/day with just the deep current adding some minor resistance to our flight.

The most promising proposition so far has come from Antonio who has proposed that we fly the windmill pattern- hoping that the third time is the charm for this sampling strategy.  We have attempted this sampling pattern in the past, the first being with Silbo in spring of 2012 off of Madiera which failed due to user error when I mis-typed the way point.

The second attempt then met its doom as we sampled the lea of Ascension Island, where the voltage of the batteries suffered a sudden drop and the glider needed to be recovered immediately.

Now, Antonio has made a very interesting discovery looking at the myocean model: conflicting eddy fields from the surface to inflection depth!

What we propose we do now, is that we take the windmill pattern we have attempted in the past and traverse the region, inspecting this unusual event.

We also have some time on our hands as we are still awaiting our recovery equipment to ship from Ascension Island to Rutgers so we can then secure a recovery date which we hope will occur some time in May.  Also looking to the battery plots, Dave estimates we have roughly 200 days remaining.

Where we stand now, MyOcean is showing a very well defined eddy field ahead of us with our present position being on the right side of a clockwise rotating cold eddy with another cold eddy due south and a warm eddy to the south west. RTOFS meanwhile shows two pretty well formed cold eddies to our south and south west.

Force Wind Sea & Honor

As you can see from our 3D model we are in an area with quite a few seamounts. These seamounts are all still in the area of the Trindade seachannel. We will cautiously be “threading the needle” to avoid any collisions with these seamounts.

What is interesting in the current forecast today is looking at how the currents interact with the sea mounts.  MyOcean shows from surface to 900m there is an eddy circling counter-clockwise around the large seamount to our west, resulting in a full water column flux to the north.  RTOFS on the other hand has the currents in the first few hundred meters of water flowing south while at depth there is an eddy spinning in the same direction as what MyOcean shows.  Both models however agree very nicely with the presence of a nice eddy sitting in the lea of the seamount a little further to the south west.

Force Wind Sea & Honor

This week we found ourselves within 50km of the EEZ of Trindade. Trindade is an archipelago located in the Southern Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of 32 consisting entirely of Brazilian Navy personnel. The island is of volcanic origin and consists of very rugged terrain. Part of our agreements for the Challenger mission have us avoiding entering EEZ’s in which we have no contacts. So we will cautiously be flying near Trindade but will be certain to avoid seamounts and entering their EEZ.

Currents in the surface layers both show an eddy to our immediate south west. MyOcean however shows it as a counter-clockwise warm eddy while RTOFS is showing it as a clockwise cold eddy. At depth the models continue to disagree as remnants of both eddies can be seen throughout the water column.  As we get deeper this develops into a large flux north seen in the MyOcean data (which agrees with the glider’s calculations) and a southward flux from RTOFS.

Force Wind Sea & Honor

Today the currents around 29 as forecasted by the RTFOS and MyOcean models is quite peculiar.

Aside from the currents being nearly the opposite direction of each other between the two models, both show 29 in the center of an eddy solar system.  A cool feature from the myocean model is that at the surface, to our south west there is a nice tight warm core eddy that while we go down in depth, the eddy structure looks like it slants north east in our direction leaving us at the edge of the eastern side of the eddy with its northward flow that almost matches with our depth average current calculation.

The RTOFS model also shows us in an eddy field, but  only has the currents around 300 m flowing in a direction that correlates with the currents recorded by 29.  Above that at the surface the model shows a flow to the west while from 600 to 900m the current is moving largely to the south

In other news, Fabien Cousteau has agreed to help spread the word of the Challenger Mission, for which he will make a promotional video that we will air at the Catch the Next Wave conference on March 10th to kick off Oceanology International 2014!

Force Wind Sea & Honor

As the Vitoria-Trindade Seamounts loom ahead of us, the team has begun to make adjustments to the way points as we discuss the ideal path across the mountain range ahead of us.

So far we have shifted the waypoint to having a more southern position relative to our flying path as we make our approach.

One thing we must keep in mind is that we need to remain in international waters for as long as possible along the journey. So now that we are aiming 29 due south, we now open up our options of flying between the two seamounts- taking a risk with the unfavorable bathymetry, or flying in the wider gap between seamounts and risking entering another countries waters.

Looking at our comparison of the currents, it appears that uniformly throughout the water column, there is a strong eddy signature to our immediate west that 29 is perched on- however the two models show us at slightly different positions along the north east sector of this cold core ring, resulting the current ranging from south east (RTOFS) to south west (myocean)

MyOcean- blue 0m
RTOFS- yellow 0m

MyOcean- blue 300m
RTOFS- yellow 300m

MyOcean- blue 600m
RTOFS- yellow 600m

MyOcean- blue 900m
RTOFS- yellow 900m

Dark Blue- depth average currents
light blue- surface drift

29 however is showing a surface drift closest to the myocean’s top layer as she floated to the west while at the surface.  Subsurface however the resistance was to the north east.

Force Wind Sea & Honor

Something interesting is brewing off the coast of Brazil:

A massive plankton bloom is slithering its way down the coast of the South Brazil Bight, right through where we plan to fly RU29 as we make our way to port in the upcoming months.  Right now, this region is in their mid to late summer where the plankton can flourish in the long summer days.  Although it is still early, we will keep an eye on this event as we may grasp this opportunity to do some sampling of the waters of the bloom as we prepare for recovery.  To view live and archived data from NASA’s satellite repository, click here

Today the models of the currents have begun to disagree a bit with each other:

Myocean’s sweeping pattern is now flowing at almost a 90 deg angle compared to the tight RTOFS eddies at the surface

MyOcean- blue 0m
RTOFS- yellow 0m

MyOcean- blue 300m
RTOFS- yellow 300m

down to 300m, the difference strengthens as they part to nearly an angle of 150˚

MyOcean- blue 600m
RTOFS- yellow 600m

By 600 m depth, the current are almost completely the opposite of each other, and this pattern continues as we go down to the bottom of our oscillation past 900m

MyOcean- blue 900m
RTOFS- yellow 900m

Dark Blue- depth average currents
light blue- surface drift

Loking to 29’s calculations, overall the depth average current is still to the north west while the surface drift has intensified again to the south west.

Force Wind Sea & Honor

Less than a day after the disgruntled groundhog saw his shadow, delaying the end of winter for another 6 weeks, the mid-atlantic bight is getting hit with yet another snow storm, dumping between 8-12 inches of snow over New Brunswick where we call home.

Turning to the South Atlantic, Challenger is continuing to make good time as she is now roughly half way along the planned route from Ascension to Rio.

The models of the currents have even been found to be in agreement with each other:

while myocean shows a more sweeping pattern compared to the RTOFS eddies, both models show a pretty strong flux to the north west in our current location within the top 400m

MyOcean- blue 0m
RTOFS- yellow 0m

MyOcean- blue 300m
RTOFS- yellow 300m

MyOcean- blue 600m
RTOFS- yellow 600m

However as we dive deeper, the currents begin to stray from one another amongst the models

MyOcean- blue 900m
RTOFS- yellow 900m

Dark Blue- depth average currents
light blue- surface drift

According to the gliders calculations, visualized by Dave Aragon, overall the depth average current is to the north west while the surface drift was actually to the south west- most closely predicted by the direction of myocean which had the most southerly component to the westward vectors

Finally, Hilary Kennedy of the Challenger Society has invited us to be part of her display at Oceanology International the second week of March! We will join them at their booth March 11-13 as we promote education in ocean sciences and gain new friends of the Challenger Mission

Force Wind Sea & Honor

“And why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.”

As a young Bruce Wayne learned in the first of the Christopher Nolan Trilogy, Batman Begins (2005), we must learn from our mistakes.  Although this is a pretty common phrase, it is still valuable to be in a situation where we can reflect on what we have learned and appreciate the growth we have made.

Last May, from the dates of the the 15th to the 25th, Challenger suffered what we feared to be a fatal error when her computer reset underwater, resulting in an infinite loop that prevented any communications between the COOL Room and the glider for nearly 10 days. Upon recovery off of Ascension Island in November, Challenger’s software was upgraded which included a patch that resolved the glider falling into an infinite loop which terrified us so badly. Although this fix did allow us to sleep better at night, early this morning, Challenger suffered from another under water reset, however with our ever expanding experience, our team was able to regain control and get her flying back to normal within hours.

Now back on her feet, Challenger is continuing to fly in the upper 20’s- 30 km/day rushing forth towards the shores of Sao Paulo.  Planning ahead, we hope to follow the red line displayed in the image above as we weave our way between Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and Sea Mounts as we prepare to make land fall.  By our estimates, we should be reaching shore by early to mid April if Challenger can continue to maintain these speeds.

Force Wind Sea & Honor

It is hard to believe, but this marks the 365th day at sea for RU29, Challenger. 

After deployment on January 11th 2013, Challenger set forth on a voyage to follow the South Atlantic Gyre’s circulation, connecting South Africa to Brazil before returning to the deployment location of Cape Town, expected to happen by mid 2015. So far, she has traveled over 7100 km and has averaged roughly 20km/day and has gone as fast as 33 km as of recent.

Force Wind Sea & Honor

You got that right! Antonio and his group have done it again rolling out another new product: Pinzon 4D with Sea Surface Height!

We are now able to see the altimetric data in 4 D to get a new perspective on how the ocean is moving around Challenger as she is at sea.

With this new view on the landscape, we can see how with the current way point, Challenger is sailing down what appears to be the outer western edge of a counter clockwise spinning warm eddy and on into the eastern edge of the clockwise spinning cold eddy (the center of this eddy solar system).

This eddy system should continue to help us along over the days to come as it provides some reasonably strong currents in the shallower waters while at depth we continue to have the slow yet persistent flow away from where we are trying to fly.

Force Wind Sea & Honor