Instruments

Electronic devices that record data over time or in relation to location either with a built-in instrument or sensor or via external instruments and sensors.

Optical backscatter instrument measuring scattering in water between 140 - 160 deg for a wavelength of 875nm. It has a turbidity range of 0-2000 FTU and a maximum working depth of 500m. This instrument was superseded by the OBS-3+ model in 2005. The D and A Instrument Company and its OBS product line were purchased by Campbell Scientific Inc who now has full responsibility for D and A Instruments.

A CTD-FRRf fluorometer is an instrument package designed to measure hydrographic information (pressure, temperature and conductivity) and chlorophyll fluorescence. (see more at URL: http://www.chelsea.co.uk/Instruments%20FASTtracka.htm) For example, a Chelsea FASTtracka CTD (conductivity, temperature, and depth) device can be configured with additional sensors to measure fluorescence and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) in the water column. Fluorescence data collected by the CTD are subsequently calibrated and corrected to give the average concentration of chlorophyll a in the water column. The Chelsea system can be configured as part of a towed package or in a shipboard pumping system. (see more from Chelsea Instruments, Molesey, Surrey, United Kingdom at URL: http://www.chelsea.co.uk/

Sea-bird SBE 9 pumped CTD attached to the Triaxus towed undulating platform. The Triaxus towed undulating vehicle, designed and manufactured by MacArtney, achieves high resolution 3-dimensional surveys of the upper 180m of the water column. The standard sensor package includes a Seabird CTD (with optional secondary C and T sensors), transmissometer, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll fluorometer, and PAR sensor. In addition to this basic configuration, Triaxus can accommodate up to 9 additional sensor packages / sensors. See http://www.macartney.com/systems/remote-technology/triaxus.

The Sea-Bird SBE 19 SEACAT Recorder measures conductivity, temperature, and pressure (depth). The SEACAT is self-powered and self-contained and can be deployed in profiling or moored mode. The SBE 19 SEACAT was replaced in 2001 by the 19plus. more information from Sea-Bird Electronics

Self contained self powered CTD profiler. Measures conductivity, temperature and pressure in both profiling (samples at 4 scans/sec) and moored (sample rates of once every 5 seconds to once every 9 hours) mode. Available in plastic or titanium housing with depth ranges of 600m and 7000m respectively. Minature submersible pump provides water to conductivity cell.

The Sea-Bird MicroCAT CTD unit is a high-accuracy conductivity and temperature recorder based on the Sea-Bird SBE 37 MicroCAT series of products. It can be configured with optional pressure sensor, internal batteries, memory, built-in Inductive Modem, integral Pump, and/or SBE-43 Integrated Dissolved Oxygen sensor. Constructed of titanium and other non-corroding materials for long life with minimal maintenance, the MicroCAT is designed for long duration on moorings.

In a typical mooring, a modem module housed in the buoy communicates with underwater instruments and is interfaced to a computer or data logger via serial port. The computer or data logger is programmed to poll each instrument on the mooring for its data, and send the data to a telemetry transmitter (satellite link, cell phone, RF modem, etc.). The MicroCAT saves data in memory for upload after recovery, providing a data backup if real-time telemetry is interrupted.

The Sea-Bird SBE 9 is a type of CTD instrument package. The SBE 9 is the Underwater Unit and is most often combined with the SBE 11 Deck Unit (for real-time readout using conductive wire) when deployed from a research vessel. The combination of the SBE 9 and SBE 11 is called a SBE 911. The SBE 9 uses Sea-Bird's standard modular temperature and conductivity sensors (SBE 3 and SBE 4). The SBE 9 CTD can be configured with auxiliary sensors to measure other parameters including dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, fluorometer, altimeter, etc.). Note that in most cases, it is more accurate to specify SBE 911 than SBE 9 since it is likely a SBE 11 deck unit was used. more information from Sea-Bird Electronics

The Sea-Bird SBE 25 SEALOGGER CTD is battery powered and is typically used to record data in memory, eliminating the need for a large vessel, electrical sea cable, and on-board computer. All SBE 25s can also operate in real-time, transmitting data via an opto-isolated RS-232 serial port. Temperature and conductivity are measured by the SBE 3F Temperature sensor and SBE 4 Conductivity sensor (same as those used on the premium SBE 9plus CTD). The SBE 25 also includes the SBE 5P (plastic) or 5T (titanium) Submersible Pump and TC Duct. The pump-controlled, TC-ducted flow configuration significantly reduces salinity spiking caused by ship heave, and in calm waters allows slower descent rates for improved resolution of water column features. Pressure is measured by the modular SBE 29 Temperature Compensated Strain-Gauge Pressure sensor (available in eight depth ranges to suit the operating depth requirement). The SBE 25's modular design makes it easy to configure in the field for a wide range of auxiliary sensors, including optional dissolved oxygen (SBE 43), pH (SBE 18 or SBE 27), fluorescence, transmissivity, PAR, and optical backscatter sensors. More information from Sea-Bird Electronics: http:www.seabird.com.

The RBR Conductivity, Temperature and Depth instrument:

http://www.rbr-global.com/products/ct-and-ctd-loggers/rbrconcerto-ctd

The Neil Brown Instrument Systems Mark III Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) instrument is an integral unit containing pressure, temperature and conductivity sensors with an optional dissolved oxygen sensor in a pressure-hardened casing. Developed in the 1970s, the Neil Brown CTD unit was able to digitize conductivity, temperature and pressure measurements at sufficient speeds to permit oceanographers to study 10 cm features at winch lowering speeds of 30 meters per minute. The most widely used variant in the 1980s and 1990s was the MK3B. The MK3C fitted with an improved pressure sensor to reduce hysteresis was developed to meet the requirements of the WOCE project. The instrument is no longer in production, but is supported (repair and calibration) by General Oceanics.

The CTD part of the MOCNESS includes 1) a pressure (depth) sensor which is a thermally isolated titanium strain gauge with a standard range of 0-5000 decibars full scale, 2) A Sea Bird temperature sensor whose frequency output is measured and sent to the surface for logging and conversion to temperature by the software in the MOCNESS computer (The system allows better than 1 milli-degree resolution at 10 Hz sampling rate), and 3) A Sea Bird conductivity sensor whose output frequency is measured and sent to the surface for logging and conversion to conductivity by the software in the computer (The system allows better than 1 micro mho/cm at 10 Hz sampling rate). The data rate depends on the speed of the computer and the quality of the cable. With a good cable, the system can operate at 2400 baud, sampling all variables at 2 times per second. One sample every 4 seconds is the default, although the hardware can operate much faster. (From The MOCNESS Manual)

The Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) unit is an integrated instrument package designed to measure the conductivity, temperature, and pressure (depth) of the water column. The instrument is lowered via cable through the water column. It permits scientists to observe the physical properties in real-time via a conducting cable, which is typically connected to a CTD to a deck unit and computer on a ship. The CTD is often configured with additional optional sensors including fluorometers, transmissometers and/or radiometers. It is often combined with a Rosette of water sampling bottles (e.g. Niskin, GO-FLO) for collecting discrete water samples during the cast.

This term applies to profiling CTDs. For fixed CTDs, see https://www.bco-dmo.org/instrument/869934.

The Coupled Asymmetrical Multiple Opening/Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System (MOCNESS) couples two sub-systems (1-m2 and 4-m2 net sizes) working in synchronization. The system allows for sampling of both zooplankton prey and icthyoplankton predator fields by employing a combination system of two sets of nets with different mesh and mouth sizes. This Coupled Asymmetrical MOCNESS, first described by Guigand et al. (2005), was constructed using a 1-m2 and a 4-m2 MOCNESS system from Biological Environmental Sampling System Inc. (B.E.S.S. Inc.). The individual net frames were removed and a new frame was constructed, joining the two systems, at the Rosentiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) in Miami. Refer to:
Guigand, C.M., Cowen, R.K., Llopiz, J.K., and Richardson, D.E. 2005. A coupled asymmetrical multiple opening closing net with environmental sampling systems. Mar. Technol. Soc. J. 39(2): 22–24. doi:10.4031/002533205787444042.

The ECS 4010 Nitrogen / Protein Analyzer is an elemental combustion analyser for CHNSO elemental analysis and Nitrogen / Protein determination. The GC oven and separation column have a temperature range of 30-110 degC, with control of +/- 0.1 degC.

A Continuous Flow Interface connects solid and liquid sample preparation devices to instruments that measure isotopic composition. It allows the introduction of the sample and also reference and carrier gases.
Examples: Finnigan MATConFlo II, ThermoScientific ConFlo IV, and Picarro Caddy.

Note: This is NOT an analyzer

The CPR is a plankton sampling instrument designed to be towed from merchant ships or ships of opportunity on their normal sailings. The CPR is towed at a depth of approximately 10 metres. Water passes through the CPR and plankton are filtered onto a slow-moving band of silk (270 micrometre mesh size) and covered by a second silk. The silks and plankton are then spooled into a storage tank containing formalin. On return to the laboratory, the silk is removed from the mechanism and divided into samples representing 10 nautical miles (19 km) of tow.

CPR samples are analyzed in two ways. Firstly, the Phytoplankton Color Index (PCI) is determined for each sample. The colour of the silk is evaluated against a standard colour chart and given a 'green-ness' value based on the visual discoloration of the CPR silk produced by green chlorophyll pigments; the PCI is a semiquantitative estimate of phytoplankton biomass. In this way the PCI takes into account the chloroplasts of broken cells and small phytoplankton which cannot be counted during the microscopic analysis stage. After determination of the PCI, microscopic analysis is undertaken for each sample, and individual phytoplankton and zooplanktontaxa are identified and counted.

Reid, P.C.; Colebrook, J.M.; Matthews, J.B.L.; Aiken, J.; et al. (2003). "The Continuous Plankton Recorder: concepts and history, from plankton indicator to undulating recorders".Progress in Oceanography 58(2-4): 117-175. doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2003.08.002.

Warner, A.J., and Hays, G.C.,; Hays, G (1994). "Sampling by the Continuous Plankton Recorder survey". Progress in Oceanography 34(2–3): 237–256. doi:10.1016/0079-6611(94)90011-6.

Conductivity Meter - An electrical conductivity meter (EC meter) measures the electrical conductivity in a solution. Commonly used in hydroponics, aquaculture and freshwater systems to monitor the amount of nutrients, salts or impurities in the water.

A CT scan makes use of computer-processed combinations of many X-ray measurements taken from different angles to produce cross-sectional (tomographic) images (virtual "slices") of specific areas of a scanned object.

A Cold Vapor Atomic Fluorescent Spectrophotometer (CVAFS) is an instrument used for quantitative determination of volatile heavy metals, such as mercury. CVAFS make use of the characteristic of mercury that allows vapor measurement at room temperature. Mercury atoms in an inert carrier gas are excited by a collimated UV light source at a particular wavelength. As the atoms return to their non-excited state they re-radiate their absorbed energy at the same wavelength. The fluorescence may be detected using a photomultiplier tube or UV photodiode.

A COastal Ocean Lagrangian (COOL) float measures compass angle, pressure, and temperature and is constructed from a glass pipe 2.2 m long and with an outer diameter of 9.5 cm. The float consists of the glass pipe, electronics, a volume changer (VOCHA) located within the float, vanes and a compass, a pinger and either a compressee or drop weight. The COOL float is based on the previously designed isopycnal f/h float (Rossby et al., 1994). Glass was used since it has a very small thermal expansion coefficient. Thus, the float will remain on the same density surface even if the temperature and salinity of the water changes but its density doesn't. If a water parcel is displaced vertically, it will either expand or compress due to the change in pressure and not change its potential density. Since the glass float is less compressible than seawater, it will not follow this water parcel. Therefore, a compressee is added to the float to match the float's compressibility to that of seawater. The COOL float has a volume changer (VOCHA) in it to allow the float to follow a water parcel whose density is changing. However, in our short test deployments, we only used the VOCHA for calibration purposes (described later). Eight vanes at a angle to the horizontal and a compass were added to the isopycnal f/h to make the COOL float. As water flows vertically past the float, the vanes will make the float rotate. Measuring the rotation rate with a compass inside the float will provide a measure of the vertical velocity past the float. If the float is isobaric (that is, the float will remain at a constant pressure; it does not have a compressee), the vertical velocity past the float will be mainly due to the vertical velocity of internal waves. However, vanes on the isopycnal COOL float will make it respond to diapycnal velocities instead of vertical velocities. That is, the float will measure only the amount of water flowing past the float whose density is changing.

Measures atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration.

"Clarke and Bumpus designed a small two-messenger zooplankton collection system that could be deployed as multiple units on the wire and had a positive means of opening and closing the mouth of the net. A frame attached at the top and bottom to the towing wire supported a cylindrical tube 12.7 cm in diameter and 16 cm long, to which a net was attached. In the mouth of the tube was a flat plate (like a stove pipe damper plate),which closed off the cylinder when the net was deployed. When the first messenger released a spring-loaded latch, the plate was rotated 90 degrees, opening the net; a second messenger rotated it another 90 degrees to close the net. A flowmeter at the back of the cylinder recorded flow through the net." (Wiebe and Benfield, 2003) The instruments were equipped with No. 2 silk nets (22 strands/cm.) and "oblique" hauls were made at a speed of about 2 knots for periods of 25 to 40 minutes.

References:
CLARKE, G. L., AND D. F. BUMPUS, 1940. The Plankton Sampler-an instrument for quantitative plankton investigations. Linnological Society of America, Special Pub., (No. 5): 1-8.

Wiebe, Peter H. and Mark C. Benfield, 2003. From the Hensen net toward four-dimensional biological oceanography. Progress in Oceanography, 56, pp. 7-136.

The Chromium Controller by 10x Genomics uses advanced microfluidics to perform single-cell partitioning and barcoding. Powered by Next GEM technology, the Chromium Controller enables integrated analysis of single cells at massive scale. Chromium Single Cell products can capture molecular readouts of cell activity in multiple dimensions, including gene expression, cell surface proteins, immune clonotype, antigen specificity, and chromatin accessibility. (https://www.10xgenomics.com/instruments/chromium-controller).

Devices in which controlled conditions are maintained for a chemical process to be carried out by organisms or biochemically active substances derived from such organisms.

CHANOS uses spectrophotometric principles to measure DIC and pH using two independent channels (Wang et al., 2015). Briefly, CHANOS consisted of syringe pumps for delivery of reagents, junction boxes containing valves, thermistors, and optical and fluidic components for DIC and pH analysis, and an electronics housing, as well as reagent bags for storage of CRM, hydrochloric acid, reference solution, and pH- sensitive indicator solution. 

Refer to Wang et al. (2015) doi: 10.1021/es504893n

A machine with a rapidly rotating container that applies centrifugal force to its contents, typically to separate fluids of different densities (e.g., cream from milk) or liquids from solids.

An instrument used for the purpose of culturing small cells such as algae or bacteria. May provide temperature and light control and bubbled gas introduction.

A Cary 50 spectrophotometer measures absorbance (200-800 nm).

A laboratory instrument that simultaneously determines total nitrogen, total hydrogen, and total carbon in a solid sample. The sample is completely and instantaneously oxidized by flash combustion, which converts all organic and inorganic substances into combustion products. The resulting combustion gases pass through a reduction furnace and are swept into the chromatographic column by the helium carrier gas. The gases are separated in the column and quantified or they can be introduced into another instrument, such as an isotope ratio mass spectrometer, for further analysis. The instrument was originally manufactured by CE instruments (formerly Carlo Erba) and has since been replaced by Thermo Scientific (part of Thermo Fisher Scientific). This model is no longer in production.

All types of photographic equipment including stills, video, film and digital systems.

A caliper (or "pair of calipers") is a device used to measure the distance between two opposite sides of an object. Many types of calipers permit reading out a measurement on a ruled scale, a dial, or a digital display.

a thermometer embedded in a small, sturdy, thick plastic container with a rope attached.  Heave the bucket overboard and it catches water and the thermometer inside reads the temperature.

Bran Luebbe AA3 AutoAnalyzer

See the description from the manufacturer.

These samplers are designed to collect an accurate representative sample of the sediment bottom. The bite of the sampler should be deep enough so all depths are sampled equally. The closing mechanism is required to completely close and hold the sample as well as prevent wash-out during retrieval. Likewise, during descent the sampler should be designed to minimize disturbance of the topmost sediment by the pressure wave as it is lowered to the bottom.

A Bongo Net consists of paired plankton nets, typically with a 60 cm diameter mouth opening and varying mesh sizes, 10 to 1000 micron. The Bongo Frame was designed by the National Marine Fisheries Service for use in the MARMAP program. It consists of two cylindrical collars connected with a yoke so that replicate samples are collected at the same time. Variations in models are designed for either vertical hauls (OI-2500 = NMFS Pairovet-Style, MARMAP Bongo, CalVET) or both oblique and vertical hauls (Aquatic Research). The OI-1200 has an opening and closing mechanism that allows discrete "known-depth" sampling. This model is large enough to filter water at the rate of 47.5 m3/minute when towing at a speed of two knots. More information: Ocean Instruments, Aquatic Research, Sea-Gear

A device for determining heats of combustion by igniting a sample in a high pressure of oxygen in a sealed vessel and measuring the resulting rise in temperature.

Shipboard radiometer with a PAR spectral response (400-700nm) designed to monitor surface irradiance during underwater light profile measurement. Hemispherical collector measuring 2-pi scalar irradiance.

Underwater radiometer with a PAR spectral response (400-700nm). Standard configuration had a spherical collector measuring 4-pi scalar irradiance but a flat plate cosine collector was available as an identically-designated option.

The BioSonics DT-X Digital Scientific Echosounder is available in single or spilt beam configuration. The resultant data set comprises 38 and 120 kHz split beam data. The DT-X Digital Scientific Echosounder is used for stock assessment, biomass estimates, and habitat mapping. DT-X digital transducers are available in a range of frequencies (38, 70, 120, 200, and 420 kHz) and beam patterns in split beam or single beam. Up to 5 transducers can be mulltiplexed for simultaneous data collection in any combination of frequencies and transducer orientations. The BioSonics split beam echosounder data can be analyzed for fish quantity, individual sizes, direction of travel through the acoustic beam. Data analysis is done using BioSonics, Echoview, or Sonar4/5-Pro software (and other options are available). Additional information is available from: BioSonics DT-X Digital Echosounder (http://www.biosonicsinc.com/product-overview.asp), BioSonics (http://www.biosonicsinc.com), Echoview (http://www.echoview.com/), and Sonar4/5-Pro (http://tid.uio.no/~hbalk/sonar4_5/index.htm).

Bio-Optical Profiling System (BOPS) is an updated version of the BOPS originally developed by Smith et al. (1984) and is used to collect optical data. The heart of the BOPS is a Biospherical instruments MER-1048 Spectroradiometer which measures up and downwelling spectral irradiance and upwelling spectral radiance. The MER-1048 also has sensors for Photosynthetically Available Radiation (PAR), depth, tilt and roll. In addition, temperature and conductivity are measured with a Sea-Bird CTD, chlorophyll fluorescence is measured with a Sea Tech fluorometer and beam transmission with a Sea Tech 25-cm transmissometer. The Mer-1048 acquires all the data 16 times a second, averages it to four records a second and sends it up the cable to a deck box and a Compaq-286 computer which stores the data on the hard disk. Additionally, a deck cell measures the downwelling surface irradiance in four spectral channels. Also surface PAR is measured continuously using a Biospherical Instruments QSR-240 Integrating PAR sensor. The profile data is commonly filtered to remove obvious data spikes and then binned into one-meter averages.

Raymond C. Smith, Charles R. Booth, and Jeffrey L. Star, "Oceanographic biooptical profiling system," Appl. Opt. 23, 2791-2797 (1984).

Handheld binoculars, generally used for bird or mammal observations.

A mechanical device that collects organisms from the seafloor. Includes dredges, sledges, weighted nets like beam trawls, and ROV manipulators.

A description of benthic samplers and links to further resources can be found at marinespecies.org:
http://marinespecies.org/introduced/wiki/Sampling_tools_for_the_marine_environment

A device that isolates a portion of seabed plus overlying water from its surroundings. Either returns the entire system to the surface or incorporates sampling devices and/or in-situ sensors.

An instrument consisting of an electronic voltmeter and pH-responsive electrode that gives a direct conversion of voltage differences to differences of pH at the measurement temperature. (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms)

This instrument does not map to the NERC instrument vocabulary term for 'pH Sensor' which measures values in the water column. Benchtop models are typically employed for stationary lab applications.

A beam trawl consists of a cone-shaped body ending in a bag or codend, which retains the catch. In these trawls the horizontal opening of the net is provided by a beam, made of wood or metal, which is up to 12 m long. The vertical opening is provided by two hoop-like trawl shoes mostly made from steel. No hydrodynamic forces are needed to keep a beam trawl open. The beam trawl is normally towed on outriggers, one trawl on each side.

While fishing for flatfish the beam trawl is often equipped with tickler chains to disturb the fish from the seabed. For operations on very rough fishing grounds they can be equipped with chain matrices. Chain matrices are rigged between the beam and the groundrope and prevent boulders/stones from being caught by the trawl. Shrimp beam trawls are not so heavy and have smaller mesh sizes. A bobbin of groundrope with rubber bobbins keeps the shrimp beam trawl in contact with the bottom and gives flatfish the opportunity to escape.

Close bottom contact is necessary for successful operation. To avoid bycatch of most juvenile fishes selectivity devices are assembled (sieve nets, sorting grids, escape holes). While targeting flatfish the beam trawls are towed up to seven knots, therefore the gear is very heavy; the largest gears weighs up to 10 ton. The towing speed for shrimp is between 2.5 and 3 knots.

(from: http://www.fao.org/fishery/geartype/305/en)

The Bioanalytical Systems EC epsilon is a family of potentiostat/galvanostats for electrochemistry. The most basic epsilon instrument can be used for standard techniques, as well as chronopotentiometry for materials characterization (e.g., characterization of transition metal complexes by cyclic voltammetry and controlled potential electrolysis, or of biosensors by cyclic voltammetry and constant potential amperometry). Pulse, square wave, and stripping techniques can be added by a software upgrade, and a second channel can be added by a hardware upgrade.

http://www.basinc.com/products/ec/epsilon/

A barometer is an instrument used to measure atmospheric pressure. There are many types of barometers identified by make and model and method of measurement.