While SG143 was recovered on 3 June 2008, shortly after Float 48, the remaining three Seagliders began a new survey pattern on the eastern flank of the Reykjanes ridge:

SG140 is executing a large bowtie pattern, and SGs 141 and 142 are repeating a 20-km bowtie: sg141 performing north-south transects on the sides of the bowtie, sg142 performing east-west transects and drawing an hourglass.

This site was chosen because it was the nearest interesting spot according to the best ocean color satellite image we had on hand, courtesy of Brandon Sackman (MBARI):

Subsequently, the patch of higher chlorophyll values moved, but the gliders are sticking to their survey pattern. It's like tacking a small Eulerian experiment at the end of the project: after following the float for most of the experiment as it wandered in between eddies until it finally settled in one, we're now staking out a stationary spot on the ridge and watching what happens as water moves through it. This is similar to a typical glider experiment, and the piloting demands are very low.

Mary Jane Perry, Katja Fennel, Kristinn Gudmundsson and Keith Van Thiel are heading out on the R/V Bjarni Saemundsson, set to leave Reykjavik on 25 June. Each seaglider will get one final CTD calibration cast before it's finally recovered, and the plan is to pick up one seaglider per day, starting on the 26th at 0900 UTC. If all goes well, the gliders will be out of the water by saturday afternoon (ship's time). The good news is it looks like the weather will be fairly good for the recovery, somewhere around 15 - 20 kt winds, if I'm reading this chart correctly. (1: I found it on an Icelandic site, and I don't know Icelandic. 2: I'm not in atmospheric science. 3: I'm guessing wildly that the runic symbols indicate direction of the wind and strength, with the long ticks meaning 10 knots and the short ones meaning 5 knots.)

(Image from http://www.vedur.is/)