The R/V SOCIB left on April 25th from Mallorca for the first expedition of the FaSt-SWOT campaign. It will be cruising on the Northen waters of the island, collecting data with a wide variety of instruments including drift buoys, rosette samplers and buoys.
After months of preparation, today begins the first expedition of Fast-SWOT – a scientific project coordinated by IMEDEA_UIB_CSIC and SOCIB_ICTS aimed at improving our understanding of small-scale ocean currents, which is also part of the international initiative to calibrate the SWOT satellite.
The project combines data from the new NASA and CNES satellite SWOT (Surface Water and Topography) with observations made in situ the Mediterranean Sea, around the Balearic Islands.
The R/V SOCIB left today from Mallorca and will be cruising on the Northern waters of the island, collecting data with a wide variety of instruments including drift buoys, rosette samplers and buoys.
Our oceans play a key role in the regulation of the climate. The Fast-SWOT team intends to provide more information on highly dynamic small-scale ocean currents which, in turn, will help us improve many data applications and better understand crucial systems like ocean’s circulation patterns and carbon cycle.
According to Ananda Pascual, one of the project’s lead researchers, the SWOT satellite will allow us to observe the ocean “under a microscope” and discover a wide range of processes, signals and structures never before seen.
The position of R/V SOCIB and all the deployments can be tracked here: https://apps.socib.es/dapp/
