PLOCAN glider concludes Macaronesia ocean mission

PLOCAN has collected its autonomous submarine glider near the island of Gran Canaria after sailing around 1800 km in three months.

The glider sailed from Nazaré, near Lisbon, in Portugal to Taliarte, Telde, on an ocean observation and research mission in Macaronesia, as a part of the European iFADO project.

The iFADO project is financed by the Interreg Atlantic Area program and its main objective is to detect and fill the gaps in observation in the deep Atlantic Ocean.

In his navigation to the Canary Islands, the glider recorded oceanographic information from areas near various seamounts.

The Seaglider M1, manufactured by Hydroid-Huntington Ingalls Industries, was put into operation on February 7, 2020.

iFADO is a four-year project coordinated by the Instituto Superior Técnico (Lisbon), with the participation of twenty partners from Portugal, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Spain and France.