The Development of a Fine- and Microstructure Profiler

Abstract

A new freely-falling ocean profiler for measuring finescale variations in temperature, salinity and horizontal velocity and microscale variations in temperature, conductivity, velocity and refractive index has been constructed. The High Resolution Profiler (HRP) features: full ocean depth capability, a microcomputer to control sampling, data storage and operations, solid state mass storage, and commercially available sensors. A special handling rig facilitates deployment and recovery at sea. Because the data are transferred electronically to a microcomputer for archiving, the instrument can be redeployed after use without opening the pressure case. Twenty to forty drops can be made before the battery needs to be replaced. Several different sensor configurations are possible, depending on the type of small-scale mixing process of interest. By observing both finestructure and microstructure with one instrument, it is possible to study the relationship between the finescale driving forces and the small-scale mixing events.