S-MODE 10/20/22 Mission Daily Schedule

Thursday, October 20

Aircraft schedule:

  • 0900:  G-III PRISM preflight begins
  • NET 1130:  G-III SF4 takeoff (weather permitting)
  • 1130:  Preflight meeting for B200 SF11
  • NET 1200:  Twin Otter SF6 takeoff (weather permitting)
  • NET 1230:  B200 SF11 takeoff

Ship and in situ plan:

  • The second Lagrangian drift survey has been completed and the BH Science Party plans to deploy floats this evening to begin the third survey.
  • The biology team will coordinate sampling with PRISM/MASS flights during EcoCTD surveys. A BH line under a MASS line (same heading) is strongly recommended to get good overlap under their swath. This will involve coordination between the BH and the MASS team.
  • Wave Gliders and Saildrones will continue surveying the frontal area in submesoscale arrays.

Science team meeting schedule:

Updates:

  • The latest DopplerScatt data (confirmed by in situ assets) shows that the ocean platforms are centered on a strong front with significant submesoscale activity.
  • The plan for the coming days is to characterize the physical features of this frontal area with all science tools in our arsenal. This is especially critical since the weekend may usher in sea-state conditions that bring the Bold Horizon into port.
  • The G-III had its third science flight today, and clear skies and clear ocean were surveyed by the PRISM instrument on the eastern part of their planned ops area.
  • The B200 had its tenth flight today and the science team eagerly awaits the latest DopplerScatt surface velocity map to see how the frontal area has evolved in the past 24 hours
  • The Twin Otter flew its fifth flight, focusing on the east part of its planned ops area due to a quick moving fog layer that swooped in later in the day. Good data collocated with DopplerScatt was collected for much of the flight.
  • Go to https://smode.whoi.edu/smode_netlink.kml for a Google Earth view of the real time autonomous platform positions.
  • Autonomous platform planned tracks are now incorporated into Google Earth in the KML share folder of the S-MODE Drive