The second leg of the FaSt-SWOT campaign started on Sunday 7th May. Researchers went back to the same area sampled during FaSt-SWOT1. Despite heavy weather, they were able to identify a cold filament from the small eddy identified two weeks before.
Everything on track onboard R/V SOCIB for the leg 2 of the FaSt-SWOT campaign. Researchers left Palma harbor as soon as possible on the night of Sunday 7th May due to bad weather forecast for Wednesday morning. They went back to the same area that was sampled during FaSt-SWOT1 and were able to find to identify a filament from the small eddy they had previously tracked.
Baptiste Mourre, co-PI of FaSt-SWOT and leader of FaSt-SWOT2 said: “A cold filament advected southwestwards adds to the small eddy that we could identify before. Everything luckily happening within the coverage of the SWOT satellite!”
Researchers have been sampling high-resolution temperature and salinity fields with the MVP towed behind the ship, complemented with the 2 gliders, CTD stations and deployment of surface drifters. Twenty classes from schools from the Balearic Islands have given names to these drifters and are now able to follow them in real-time in the framework of the “¡Boya al agua! From outer space to the Mediterranean” educational program.
Boya al agua! was developed by IMEDEA and SOCIB with the aim to inform students of primary and secondary schools of the importance of the ocean and the role of ocean currents in the regulation of the planet’s climate, in the essential processes for the development of marine life, and in maritime safety issues. For two months, students will be able to track the buoys released during FaSt-SWOT2 thanks to the SOCIB viewer.
Researchers plan to finish the “radiator” pattern covering the whole oceanic structure on Tuesday 9 May night and will then have to adapt the navigation plans to the stronger wind and wave conditions which are expected for Wednesday 10 May in the morning in the sampling area. In the words of Baptiste Mourre “So far so good!”
