SAMS news room

On the 12th October 2009, scientists from SAMS deployed an underwater glider in the Sea of the Hebrides, with the plan to make it travel across the Rockall Trough for several months gathering oceanographic data. Five months later, it is mission accomplished!

Following a mechanical problem, Talisker had to be retrieved in emergency two weeks ago. The Northern Lighthouse Board vessel Pole Star, who was operating around the Hebrides, accepted to help us and recovered the glider on the 9th March, 70 nautical miles West of Barra Head.

So what has Talisker achieved during its first mission? Well, it has measured constinuously temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, fluorescence and backscatter in the ocean, from the surface down to a thousand meters deep. In 21 weeks, Talisker has travelled over 3000km, facingstrong currents and rough weather along the way. The cartoon below (made by one of our PhD students Clare Johnson) sums it all up pretty well!