SAMS news room

SAMS Seaglider completes a record 1130 dives

SAMS Seagliders, Talisker and Ardbeg, have now finished patrolling the Celtic Sea. They were deployed in mid-September 2012 from the RRS Discovery. Ardbeg suffered a mechanical failure only one day after deployment and was recovered shortly afterwards. Talisker was more successful and completed a 116 days long mission, covering a total distance of 1900km in 1130 dives: a record number of dives. She was recovered on the 9th January 2013 by the RV Celtic Explorer.

Those deployments were part of the FASTNEt project and for the first time revealed the slow evolution of shelf edge processes as the ocean cools by warming the lower atmosphere during the transition from summer to winter.

Further details on the Seagliders can be found on the North Atlantic Glider Base webpage.

Both gliders will now be prepared for their next missions, along the Extended Ellett Line in the spring, and on the Malin Shelf in the autumn for part 2 of the FASTNEt project.

The picture (right) is courtesy of Sophie-Bernice Williams.