Vertically Rising Microstructure Profiler

Abstract

The vertically rising microstructure profiler was designed to measure temperature gradient and conductivity gradient microstructure in lakes, reservoirs and coastal seas. The instrument is totally independent of surface craft while collecting information, giving smooth ?flight ? and permitting spaced multiple drops over a short period of time. At present the data collected comprise temperature and conductivity plus their gradients with depth. Samples are taken at 100 Hz; with a nominal vehicle velocity of 0.1 m s?1 this represents a spatial interval of 1 mm. Thus quantities are measured at much higher resolution than a standard conductivity/temperature/depth probe. Signals are digitized by a 16-bit A/D converter which is interfaced to a 32-bit microcomputer. The probe data-processing capability is very high, ranging from sensor linearization and calibration to spectra generation and turbulent kinetic energy estimates. In addition to the data storage, 1M byte of the random access memory is high in capacity and speed. After recovery, data is transferred via serial line to a short computer for permanent storage and further processing. The vertically rising microstructure profiler is a sophisticated specialist instrument, realized only by application of the latest commercially available electronics and sensor technology.