Category: silbo (Page 14 of 22)

Hey All!

So we are now preparing once again to get Silbo back in the water and on his way home.  It has been 66 days since the emergency operation that involved recovering Silbo under cover of darkness after a sever drop in voltage, but now we have a team soon departing for the Azores to get him back on his feet.

For this next leg of the mission, running from the Azores to the Canaries (just over 1,300 km), Silbo will be modified as a stretch glider with Alkaline battery packs.  A stretch glider has two battery bays to allow the glider to hold more batteries and spend more time at sea.  Ru 27, the glider that flew successfully across the Atlantic from NJ to Spain back in 2009 had a similar set up.

For now, the plan is that the new battery bay and battery packs will be sent out this week and a team from Teledyne Webb will soon follow.  The deployment should take place towards the end of the month.

The remaining ~1300km should take Silbo from the end of February until about Mid May where he will be received with a warm welcome at his home in the Canary Islands.

Looking at the Bathymetry plot above, we should not have too many obstacles on the trip from the Azores to the Canaries.  The coloration is all the deep blue (everywhere except where the islands rise from the sea floor) is 1000+ m depth.  Silbo’s max depth he can handle is about 1000m, so far averaging about 980m per dive, so we should not have to worry about using too much battery on the altimeter.

We also have a newly updated tool that will definitely prove its helpfulness.  Last week, Antonio introduced us to a new product that he made over at ULPGC.  It is a set of movies to be viewed in google earth that shows the progression of salinity and currents over the month of January.

With this updating, we will be able to see what the ocean has been doing to try and make the best estimation of what it will do in the near future.  But soon, we won’t even have to make predictions.  As we near the range of Spain’s ROM data, we will have the potential to make accurate predictions at up to +96 hrs.  This will definitely prove to be helpful in piloting Silbo.

Antonio and his team has also made an incredible discovery from this new feature:  Mediterranean eddies forming between 600-1200m.

These Mediterranean Eddies are a product of the super salty water of the Mediterranean Sea spilling out into the North Atlantic where it sinks due to the difference in density.  These solar system groups of eddies are causing currents up to .2m/s at depth which we can use to aid in helping Silbo along.  Keeping an eye on these ‘meddies’ will be key in piloting and will give us some amazing data.

In the time Silbo has been out of the water, we have also begun to analyze the data collected thus far.  One plot originally created by our friends Ruben Marrero and Alberto Gonzalez from PLOCAN shows the first visualization of Heat Transport from the data collected by a Slocum Glider.

This plot starting at the point nearest the viewer shows data from Iceland to the far edge of the plot where Silbo is about even with Ireland.  In relation to the viewer, up and down measures the heat transport of the North Atlantic in relation to the glider measured in Jouls * meters/second.  The data set used to create this plot however is incomplete and hopefully soon I will be able to produce a plot with data covering the nearly 4000km from deployment to recovery in December 2011.

I also led a group of students ( Jess Castoro, Chris Puskas, Eva Pena, Holly Broadus) last semester as we looked at the temperature and salinity data recorded from Silbo and compared to data collected from the Argos drifters scattered throughout the world’s ocean.  Our goal was to see if the change in conditions (temperature & salinity) that we saw on the journey from the arctic waters off of Iceland to the more temperate waters of the Azores were due regional or temporal differences. (click on the two images below to see the temperature and salinity data respectively)

What we concluded after looking at the different plots we created was that the temperature change off of Iceland was minimal while the change near Silbo’s position on October 3rd was much larger.  This lead to the conclusion that the temperature difference seen between the end of June and beginning of October was both regional and temporal.  On the other hand, we believe the differences seen in the salinity could be due to high fresh water flux in Iceland compared to influences of the Mediterranean on our position in October.

Finally, last week Ralph Rayner, Chair of the Oceanology International meeting in London visited the COOL room where we was given a tour of our top of the line facility and discussed the Challenger Mission with Scott

That is all for now.  Check back over the next couple weeks as we finalize the preparations of Silbo as we send him back on his way home!

Force Wind Sea & Honor!

Nilsen & Antonio

Hey all,

After 164 days at sea, covering a total of 3,940 km, Silbo is now safely on board ship on his way back to shore in the Azores.

In the middle of last week, Silbo aborted due to a low voltage reading in his batteries, meaning that we did not have much time left on this mission.  Our team sprung into action and we were able to get out to the Azores in just a few days.  We then lucked out with a nice window of clear skies for this past weekend that allowed for us to plan to leave port.

On Saturday, as the team prepared to leave, the ship that was to take our team out on the recovery mission suffered some mechanical failures resulting in the need to find a new vessel.  Soon after, the team boarded the Shanghai and left port.  Then at 23:47 GMT (6:47pm local), “undercover of darkness,” Silbo was pulled from the water where they are now on their way back to Ponta Delgada where Silbo will take a long deserved rest.  In the meantime, new battery packs will be shipped to the Azores and after a few weeks rest Silbo will be back on his way continuing the legendary Challenger Mission.

Force Wind Sea & Honor

Ben Allsup, Lauren Cooney, Antonio Ramos & Nilsen Strandskov

Hey Guys,

sorry for the lack of updates, but it has been a very hectic week.  We have sent a team out to the Azores where in a few hours they will leave port to recover Silbo.  He has now been drifting on the surface for a few days now so we have been keeping an eye on the shipping traffic to and from the Azores in hope that no one would get too close.  We’ve been lucky so far and we only have a few more hours to go.  So everyone keep your fingers crossed and we hope to have good news tomorrow with a further update.

Force and Honor to all!

Lauren, Antonio & Nilsen

Hey All,

So it seems another obstacle has tripped up Silbo on his journey.  Earlier today he aborted his mission due to a low voltage reading on his battery of ~9.3V and has now been limping for the past few hours

For the past few hours, our team at TWR has been working frivolously trying to diagnose the problem and figure out what we shall dow from here.

Lauren Cooney, Antonio Ramos & Nilsen Strandskov

Hey all,

Since he has been sent on his way, Silbo has been making excellent progress as he sails towards the end of the first leg of the Challenger Mission.  Over the weekend, he broke new ground as he is now less than 1000km from the finish line!  As the crow flies, he is 950 km from the gorgeous shores of the Canary Islands.

Figure 1. Estimated Remaining Distance for the first leg of the Challenger Mission

Looking into the bathymetry of this region of the Atlantic, Silbo is now seemingly free of any dangerous terrain which will allow us to continually fly deep and therefore conserving energy.

Figure 2. Bathymetry from Azores to Canaries

Energy conservation will be crucial over the upcoming weeks.  After the very energy consuming leaks and recovery opperations we have a few weeks ago, we have done an energy consumption analysis (courteous of Ruben’s plot below).  It looks like we have enough power to last us until the first week of February.  This is slightly concerning because if we are able to maintain an average velocity of 1km/hr, that leaves us with between 50-60 days from the Canaries with a recovery date around January 20th.  So if everything works out in our favor, we could make it.  But if we have learned one thing working on long duration glider missions is that we must be prepared for the unthinkable because anything can happen.

Figure 3. Esitmate end date of the mission based off of remaining battery life by Ruben Marrero

So we have two options: cross our fingers and hope that through precise path planning we can push our way through to the Canaries, or we stop at the Island of Madeira (Portugal) where our friends at PLOCAN have a planned mooring deployment and facilities where Silbo can get checked out and new re-batteried.

Figure 4. Sea Surface Height and Surface Currents (ULPGC)

Looking at Figures 4 & 5 of two different plots of Sea Surface Height and Surface Currents, we see that we are in the midst of a cold core eddy (counter clockwise rotation).

Figure 5. Sea Surface Height and Surface Currents

However, looking at Figures 6, 7, 8and 9, there actually appears to be a staircase in the currents that goes from our most recent location to both Madeira and The Canaries.

Figure 6. Stairway like path to Madeira and The Canaries

Figure 7. Currents and North South components for Surface waters and at 200m

If we inspect at depth, we can see that a similar pattern can be found in the currents reaching to 1000m below the surface.

Figure 8. Currents and North South Components for 400m and 600m

Figure 9. Currents and North South Components for 800m and 1000m

If we continue to find a similar path over the next two months, this staircase may be very useful in reaching our destination.

Figure 10. Sea Surface Temperature satellite imagery from ULPGC for 11/28/11

Looking at the Sea Surface Temperature in Figure 10, we are now about half way through the band of blue and almost to the warmer waters, designated in green, where we will be for the last few hundred kilometers of the mission a we close in on the Canaries.  It will be interesting to see what the biological growth will be like as Silbo passes through the green and when he continues his journey past the Canaries in the tropical waters of the North Atlantic.

Figure 11. Salinity at depths of 600m, 700m, 800m, and 900m

Finally, Antonio pointed out that we are now pretty deep into the ‘tongue’ of the salty Mediterranean waters.  As we can see in Figure 11, starting at about 600m subsurface, we start to encounter some very salty water.  As we get closer to the West coast of Europe we see that the levels increase even further which may lead to a strong halocline between 700-1000m.

Hope everyone enjoyed their Holiday!

Force, Wind, Sea & Honor!

Lauren Cooney, Antonio Ramos, Oliver Ho, Lindsay Howell & Nilsen Strandskov

Hey all,

As everyone is preparing for a day full of turkey, stuffing, football, and a nice well deserved nap, silbo is continuing on his way from the Azores towards his home in the Canary Islands. Having been launched only 5 months ago (even though it seems like it has been an eternity) this little glider has flown over 3,600km and is finally on the home stretch towards completing the first part of this mission to go around the globe.

Since the kinks have been all worked out after last week, Silbo is now making pretty good progress as he makes his way over the last of the treacherous terrain back into the open ocean.

As we move further away from the shielding of the islands, we are now exposed to the elements more.  As we can see from the above picture of the sea surface height and currents, we can see a number of eddies in the area, the red spinning in a clockwise manner and the blue turning counter to that.  As we get closer, we will analyze what the currents are like past these eddies as we make a decision on where to put the way point.

And as always the sea surface temperature looks fascinating as we can see the temperature bands going from warm to cold towards the poles.  As we get closer to the Canaries, we will see the temperature continue to rise as we enter the bands of green and yellow when we enter the more tropical waters near the Canaries.  It will be interesting to see how deep the warm water goes and if this will effect the lack of biological growth we have seen thus far on silbo’s hull.

Finally, there has been a lot of talk lately on where we go from the Canaries after we have reached there.  As our mission is to take silbo and the new Rutgers glider around the world, we have quite a few options of where to go.

There are a number of historical tracks we can follow, from Columbus to Elcano to making up our own path as we travel the globe. Currently a path zigzagging the atlantic and circling the antartic (shown above) along with a number of other paths are currently being discussed.  But more on that later.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone

Lauren Conney, Antonio Ramos, and Nilsen Strandskov

Hey all,

First off, I would just like to announce to everyone that Rutgers has officially purchased the second long duration glider for the purpose of carrying out the Challenger Mission!  Because of this, I would like to let everyone know that we will now refer to the glider running the first leg of the Challenger Mission by its original name of Silbo, a name full of honor and history (opposed to the name we had christened it back in late June) here on the blog. This glider has fought long and hard to complete this epic journey and he is now one step closer from reaching the end of the first leg.

So where we left off last, Silbo had run into more complications and had to be pulled out of the water for a second time.  After being deployed following the repair to the aft section, the pitch battery had been disconnected leading to a sporadic flight pattern that would be detrimental to our little glider.  However, after some an amazing continual effort by Chris DeCollibus and Rayco Moran, Silbo was recovered, fixed and sent back on his way.

After running a number of test dives to confirm he is back to 100%, we have now sent him back on his way.  Tomorrow we will update on the conditions and ‘shooting the gap’ as we take proactive measures to navigate some potentially dangerous bathymetry.

Thank you again to our amazing team! Force Wind Sea & Honor

Lauren Cooney, Ben Allsup, Antonio Ramos & Nilsen Strandskov

Hey All,

So it appears we may have jumped the gun a little on the redeployment of Challenger.  After we put him back in the water and left the site, he began flying peculiarly.  After running some diagnostics, it was determined that the pitch battery, which can be manipulated to change the angle the glider dives and climbs, had come loose and was causing the strange flight pattern.   Weather permitting we will be recovering as soon as we can so we can fix the problem and get Challenger back on his way.

Force Wind Sea & Honor

Lauren Cooney, Antonio Ramos & Nilsen Strandskov

Hey all!

After just about a day of being out of the water, Challenger was so eager to get back on his way that he is back on a boat RIGHT NOW for redeployment!  Yesterday, Chris DeCollibus (TWR) and Rayco Moran (PLOCAN) recovered Challenger off of Sao Miguel to diagnose a reoccurring leak in the aft compartment.  After getting back to port and with the support of our friends up at Teledyne Webb working round the clock, they got the glider  checked out and found the problem to be a faulty o-ring on the pressure transducer.  After this relatively simple fix, Chris and Rayco hopped back on the boat and are now out on their way to deploy Challenger and send him on his way to complete this epic journey!

Lauren Cooney, Antonio Ramos & Nilsen Strandskov

Hey All!

Just a short while ago Challenger was successfully recovered off the Northern shore of Sao Miguel!  This brave little robot flew an astonishing 3,412 km in just 143 days.  Not only is the distance covered an amazing feet, but Challenger was the first glider to fly from Arctic waters up by Iceland to the warmer waters down in the Azores.

Soon the team will arrive back on shore where they will run a number of diagnostic tests to try and find out what has been causing the leak.  Finally, weather and test permitting, we hope to get the glider back in the water this weekend.  Check back soon for more information and possibly some pictures from the recovery!

Lauren Cooney, Antonio Ramos & Nilsen Strandskov