Instruments

The salinometer is an instrument for measuring the salinity of a water sample.

The Autonomous Behaving Lagrangian Explorer (ABLE), designed by Tom Wolcott, is a biomimetic robotic drifter that senses in situ environmental stimuli (e.g., variations in PAR, pressure, salinity, or temperature) and can be programmed to respond to these cues with vertical migration behavior like that of the planktonic organism of interest.

Automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels by electronically exchanging data with other nearby ships, AIS base stations, and satellites.

This equipment removes dissolved gases from the water samples, traps the extracted compounds on a cold trap and then heats the trap and injects the trapped gases into the gas chromatograph. It is automated and controlled by a laptop computer.

The Automated Larval Fish Rearing System (ALFiRiS) was self-designed and assembled in the Rankin Lab at the University of Connecticut Avery Point. It consists of a 3 x 3 array of recirculating units (600 liters/150 gallons) that have independent computer-control over their temperature, oxygen, and pH conditions.

The system was designed to sequentially monitor tank conditions via industrial-grade oxygen and pH sensors (Hach) and then control gas solenoids (air, N2, CO2) to maintain and modulate environmental conditions. The system can apply static as well as fluctuating conditions on diel and tidal scales. Computerized temperature control allows simulating heatwaves and other non-static thermal regimes.

More information can be found at https://befel.marinesciences.uconn.edu/alfiris/

An instrument that determines the numbers, types or viability of cells present in a sample.

The Atmospheric Pressure Ionization Mass Spectrometer measures dimethylsulfide (DMS) in ambient air and in sea water. This instrument is used to measure DMS fluxes directly in the marine boundary layer.

ARGOLab waterbath without recirculation pump.

Working range: +5°C above ambient temperature to 100°C.
Tank capacity: 12 liters.
Electronic temperature regulator with integrated PID control
Visual and acoustic alarms that can be silenced by the operator.
Safety class 2 according to DIN 12880.
Temperature stability at 37 °C: ± 0.1 °C.
Temperature accuracy: ± 0.2 °C.
Digital timer with programming range 1 min - 99 h and 59 min, and continuous operation.
Rack capacity: up to 4 modules.
Tank dimensions (W x H x D): 300 x 240 x 200 mm
Weight: 12 Kg.

Power supply: 220 ± 10% V / 50-60 Hz, Power: 900 W.

Aquarium - a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept

An automated acid-base titrator for use in aquatic carbon dioxide parameter analysis. The titrator provides standardisation and sample analysis, using the Gran titration procedure for alkalinity determination of seawater and brackish waters. It is designed for both shipboard and land based laboratory use. The precision of the instrument is 0.1 percent or higher, and sample volumes may range from 10-25 ml. Titration takes approximately 8 minutes per sample, and the repeatability is within plus or minus 1-2 micromoles per kg.

An anemometer is a device for measuring the velocity or the pressure of the wind. It is commonly used to measure wind speed. Aboard research vessels, it is often mounted with other meteorological instruments and sensors.

A plastic tube, about 40 cm (16 inches) long, is pushed into the sediment by Alvin's manipulator arm to collect a sediment core.

A temperature measuring device on the submersible Alvin. The high temperature probe is capable of reading in-situ water temperatures from 0 to 450 degrees C.

An instrument that measures height above a fixed surface. The data can be used to map ocean-surface topography and generate gridded surface height fields.

A chamber specifically designed for the growth of algae in flasks. The chamber typically provides controlled temperature, humidity, and light conditions.

 Device for spraying liquid by means of compressed air.

Measures air temperature

A type of underwater camera system used for photographing aggregates in tanks or other containers.

A device that collects a sample of aerosol (dry particles or liquid droplets) from the atmosphere.

The JOIDES Resolution's Advanced Piston Corer (APC) is used in soft ooze and sediments. The APC is a hydraulically actuated piston corer designed to recover relatively undisturbed samples from very soft to firm sediments.

More information is available from IODP (PDF).

An acoustic recorder senses and records acoustic signals from the environment.

The ADCP measures water currents with sound, using a principle of sound waves called the Doppler effect. A sound wave has a higher frequency, or pitch, when it moves to you than when it moves away. You hear the Doppler effect in action when a car speeds past with a characteristic building of sound that fades when the car passes. The ADCP works by transmitting "pings" of sound at a constant frequency into the water. (The pings are so highly pitched that humans and even dolphins can't hear them.) As the sound waves travel, they ricochet off particles suspended in the moving water, and reflect back to the instrument. Due to the Doppler effect, sound waves bounced back from a particle moving away from the profiler have a slightly lowered frequency when they return. Particles moving toward the instrument send back higher frequency waves. The difference in frequency between the waves the profiler sends out and the waves it receives is called the Doppler shift. The instrument uses this shift to calculate how fast the particle and the water around it are moving. Sound waves that hit particles far from the profiler take longer to come back than waves that strike close by. By measuring the time it takes for the waves to bounce back and the Doppler shift, the profiler can measure current speed at many different depths with each series of pings. (More from WHOI instruments listing).

An AMS measures "long-lived radionuclides that occur naturally in our environment. AMS uses a particle accelerator in conjunction with ion sources, large magnets, and detectors to separate out interferences and count single atoms in the presence of 1x1015 (a thousand million million) stable atoms, measuring the mass-to-charge ratio of the products of sample molecule disassociation, atom ionization and ion acceleration." AMS permits ultra low-level measurement of compound concentrations and isotope ratios that traditional alpha-spectrometry cannot provide. More from Purdue University: http://www.physics.purdue.edu/primelab/introduction/ams.html

"The WET Labs AC-9 is a type of in-situ spectrophotometer that simultaneously determines the spectral transmittance and spectral absorption of water over nine wavelengths. The unit offers compact size, high precision, and excellent stability in providing a method for determining the absorption (a(l)) and beam attenuation (c(l)) coefficients. The AC-9 employs a 25-cm pathlength for effective measurement of the cleanest natural waters. The unit is also available in a 10-cm pathlength configuration." (more from WET Labs)

The Aanderaa Recording Current Meter (RCM) is a self-contained instrument that can be moored in the sea and record ocean current, water temperature, conductivity of the water and depth of the instrument. This instrument designation is used when specific make and model are not known. (more from Aanderaa).

A stand-alone oxygen optode with integrated temperature sensor, manufactured by Aanderaa. This instrument exploits the physio-chemical principle of dynamic fluorescence quenching to measure absolute oxygen concentration and percent saturation. Depth rating: 300 m, 3000 m or 6000 m; oxygen concentration accuracy of < 8 uM or 5 %, and resolution of < 1 uM; air saturation accuracy of < 5 %, and resolution of 0.4 %; response time (63 %): < 8 s.

An artifical colonization substrate made of a sheet of PVC covered with 3M Scotch-Brite pads of unknown material. It is used to determine the extent of colonization and/or the diversity of settled organisms in a marine or artificial environment.