Instruments

Rotronics device used to measure air temperature

Low-level beta detectors manufactured by Riso (now Nutech) in Denmark. These instruments accept samples that can be mounted on a 25mm filter holder. These detectors have very low backgrounds, 0.17 counts per minute, and can have counting efficiencies as high as 55%. 

A Ring Net is a generic plankton net, made by attaching a net of any mesh size to a metal ring of any diameter. There are 1 meter, .75 meter, .25 meter and .5 meter nets that are used regularly. The most common zooplankton ring net is 1 meter in diameter and of mesh size .333mm, also known as a 'meter net' (see Meter Net).

Remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) are unoccupied, highly maneuverable underwater robots operated by a person aboard a surface vessel. They are linked to the ship by a group of cables that carry electrical signals back and forth between the operator and the vehicle. Most are equipped with at least a video camera and lights. Additional equipment is commonly added to expand the vehicle’s capabilities. These may include a still camera, a manipulator or cutting arm, water samplers, and instruments that measure water clarity, light penetration, and temperature.

A Reeve Net is a conventional ring net with a very large acrylic cylindrical cod-end (30 liters) designed to collect fragile gelatinous animals. The net is lowered to a particular depth and then hauled slowly back to the surface (5-10 m/min). Reeve (1981) also described a double net system with no bridle and flotation at the net mouth that is attached to a roller mechanism that rides on a tow wire.
The roller system is locked in place by a pressure release device. Once below a set pressure, the roller
and nets are released and they float slowly up the wire, gently collecting the zooplankton, without being
influenced by the motion of the vessel and associated vertical wire movements. (from Wiebe and Benfield, 2003)

1 or 2-tined hand-held rakes, very much like garden rakes, used for collecting sea urchins, scallops or other small items from the seafloor by divers

The RaDeCC is an alpha scintillation counter that distinguishes decay events of short-lived radium daughter products based on their contrasting half-lives. This system was pioneered by Giffin et al. (1963) and adapted for radium measurements by Moore and Arnold (1996).

References:
Giffin, C., A. Kaufman, W.S. Broecker (1963). Delayed coincidence counter for the assay of actinon and thoron. J. Geophys. Res., 68, pp. 1749-1757.
Moore, W.S., R. Arnold (1996). Measurement of 223Ra and 224Ra in coastal waters using a delayed coincidence counter. J. Geophys. Res., 101 (1996), pp. 1321-1329.
Charette, Matthew A.; Dulaiova, Henrieta; Gonneea, Meagan E.; Henderson, Paul B.; Moore, Willard S.; Scholten, Jan C.; Pham, M. K. (2012). GEOTRACES radium isotopes interlaboratory comparison experiment. Limnology and Oceanography - Methods, vol 10, pg 451.

Radiometer is a generic term for a range of instruments used to measure electromagnetic radiation (radiance and irradiance) in the atmosphere or the water column. For example, this instrument category includes free-fall spectral radiometer (SPMR/SMSR System, Satlantic, Inc), profiling or deck cosine PAR units (PUV-500 and 510, Biospherical Instruments, Inc). This is a generic term used when specific type, make and model were not specified.

The QuikSCAT is a polar orbiting satellite with an 1800 km wide measurement swath on the earth's surface. Generally, this results in twice per day coverage over a given geographic region. This specialized microwave radar measures near-surface wind speed and direction under all weather and cloud conditions over Earth's oceans. Wind retrievals are done on a 25km x 25km spatial scale.

A square or rectangular rigid frame of known area, often home-made, that is placed on the substrate to be sampled to mark a fixed area for sampling flora or fauna.

The Qiagen TissueLyser II is a tissue processor designed to disrupt biological samples through high-speed shaking in plastic tubes with stainless steel, tungsten carbide, or glass beads. It is used for high-throughput disruption of human, animal, and plant tissues, bacteria, and yeast to access biological information for genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics applications. It automates the purification of DNA, RNA, and protein from 1 to 96 samples. Disruption and homogenization are achieved through the beating and grinding effect of beads on the sample material as they are shaken together in the grinding vessels. Using the appropriate adapter set, up to 48 or 192 samples can be processed at the same time. Alternatively, a grinding jar set can be used to process large samples. A range of beads, bead dispensers, and collection microtubes and caps are also available. It can be programmed to provide variable speeds from 3 to 30 Hz (180-1800 oscillations per minute) and run times from 10 seconds to 99 minutes.

A purse seine is a large wall of netting deployed in a circle around an entire school of fish. The seine has floats along the top line with a lead line of chain along the bottom. Once a school of fish is located, a skiff pulls the seine into the water as the vessel encircles the school with the net. A cable running along the bottom is then pulled in, "pursing" the net closed on the bottom, preventing fish from escaping by swimming downward. The catch is harvested by bringing the net alongside the vessel and brailing the fish aboard.

A Pump Air Sampler is an instrument that continuously supplies a flow of air either to an analytical instrument, over a sensor, through filters or from which discrete samples may be drawn for subsequent analysis. This instrument designation is used when specific make and model are not known.

A pump is a device that moves fluids (liquids or gases), or sometimes slurries, by mechanical action. Pumps can be classified into three major groups according to the method they use to move the fluid: direct lift, displacement, and gravity pumps

A pressure vessel is a container designed to hold gases or liquids at a pressure substantially different from the ambient pressure. Construction methods and materials may be chosen to suit the pressure application, and will depend on the size of the vessel, the contents, working pressure, mass constraints, and the number of items required. Examples include glassware, autoclaves, compressed gas cylinders, compressors (including refrigeration), vacuum chambers and custom designed laboratory vessels.  

The OXY-10 mini is a precise multi-channel oxygen meter for up to 10 'in-house' sensors, simultaneously controlling and reading them. The meter is used with oxygen sensors based on a 2mm optical fibre. The meter is compatible with sensors that are type PSt3 which has a detection limit 15 ppb, 0 - 100% oxygen.

A device that collects a sample of precipitation (rain, hail or snow) as it falls.

An electronic device designed to take an input signal and output an increased signal strength.

The PME miniDOT logger is a submersible sensor designed to measure water temperature and dissolved oxygen concentration. Dissolved oxygen is measured by an optode that measures lifetime-based luminescence quenching of a thin membrane. The sensing foil contains a coating with a variable fluorescence depending on the oxygen concentration of the surrounding water. The miniDOT reports in milligrams per liter (mg/L) and logs all measurements to an internal SD card. Also featured is a temperature sensor and batteries. Data can be offloaded to a computer via USB cable. The logger has an accuracy of +/- 5 percent (+/- 0.3 mg/L) for oxygen, and +/- 0.1 degrees Celsius for temperature. Temperature range is 0 to 35 degrees Celsius, oxygen range is 0 to 150 percent saturation. Depth-rated to 300 meters.

Instrument description from the manufacturer: https://www.pme.com/products/minidot

Various devices for sub-sampling plankton samples

Folsom splitter: http://www.aquaticresearch.com/folsom_plankton_splitter.htm

Motoda box splitter: http://www.aquaticresearch.com/motodo_plankton_splitter.htm

Hensen Stempel Pippette: http://www.envcoglobal.com/catalog/product/plankton-counting/hensen-stempel-pipettes.html

Sedgewick-Rafter Plankton Counting Chamber: http://www.benmeadows.com/wildco-sedgewick-rafter-counting-chambers_36816595/

The piston corer is a type of bottom sediment sampling device. A long, heavy tube is plunged into the seafloor to extract samples of mud sediment. A piston corer uses a "free fall" of the coring rig to achieve a greater initial force on impact than gravity coring. A sliding piston inside the core barrel reduces inside wall friction with the sediment and helps to evacuate displaced water from the top of the corer. A piston corer is capable of extracting core samples up to 90 feet in length.

A portable analyzer designed for laboratories or field based isotope analysis. It uses Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy (CRDS) to measure the spectral signature of the molecule of interest. The instrument includes a closed-loop temperature and pressure control. The L1102-i can be used for analysis of liquid water only. It has a typical precision of 0.1 per mil for d18O and 0.5 per mil for dD.

A Phytoplankton Net is a generic term for a sampling net having mesh size of 150 microns or less that is used to collect phytoplankton. It is used only when detailed instrument documentation is not available.

Photon counting is a technique in which individual photons are counted using some single-photon detector (SPD). 

An instrument that measures the light intensity emitted from a sample. [Definition Source: NCI]
Photometers are used to measure iIlluminance, irradiance, light absorption, scattering of light, reflection of light, fluorescence, phosphorescence, and luminescence.
[May include luminometers]

The PerkinElmer Tri-Carb 3110TR is a benchtop liquid scintillation analyzer for detecting small amounts of alpha, beta, and gamma radioactivity. It features a Multichannel Analyzer with an effective resolution of 1/10 keV and an extended dynamic quench range. Sample capacity is either 408 standard 20 mL vials, or 720 small 4 or 7 mL vials. The instrument includes a barium-133 low-energy external standard source centered under the sample vial which eliminates the effects of volume variations. It has an energy range of 0-2000 keV and an operating ambient temperature range of 15-35 degrees Celsius.

Capable of being performed in numerous environments, percussion coring techniques are just as they sound. Similar to push coring (in which the core barrel is pushed into the sediment by hand), in percussion coring, the core is driven into the sediment by a percussion instrument such as a mallet or slide hammer.

Description from: https://web.whoi.edu/coastal-group/about/how-we-work/field-methods/coring/

A unit that accurately determines the carbon and nitrogen concentrations of organic compounds typically by detecting and measuring their combustion products (CO2 and NO).

Measures 2D velocity flow fields, usually by scanning particles with a laser beam and capturing images of the illuminated particles. 

A Langdon Oyxgen Titrator is an amperometric oxygen titration system developed to measure dissolved oxygen in seawater. The device uses a conventional polarographic electrode in connection with chronoamperometry to overcome many of the problems limiting the performance of oxygen electrodes. Reproducibility is typically better than +/- 0.8 micromolar and essentially drift-free for several weeks. A microcomputer controls all phases of the measuring process: pulse generation, data acquisition, reduction, and storage. Software is used to correct sensor output for temperature dependence and an activity coefficient, a function of temperature and salinity, is computed to correct for salinity. (Langdon, 1984. Deep Sea Research Part A. Oceanographic Research Papers, Volume 31, Issue 11, pp. 1357-1367; Culberson and Huang, 1987. Automated amperometric oxygen titration. Deep Sea Res. 34:875-880).

An electronic device that measures the proportion of oxygen (O2) in the gas or liquid being analyzed

Otter trawls have large rectangular otter boards which are used to keep the mouth of the trawl net open. Otter boards are made of timber or steel and are positioned in such a way that the hydrodynamic forces, acting on them when the net is towed along the seabed, pushes them outwards and prevents the mouth of the net from closing. The speed that the trawl is towed at depends on the swimming speed of the species which is being targeted and the exact gear that is being used, but for most demersal species, a speed of around 4 knots (7 km/h) is appropriate. More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottom_trawling

The Osi OWI-430 WIVIS is an optical weather and visibility sensor that measures visibility, rain, snow, drizzle, freezing and mixed precipitation conditions. It measures rain in dynamic range 0.1 to 3000 mm/hr; snow in dynamic range 0.01 to 300 mm/hr; visibility in dynamic range 0.001 to 10 km. It is designed to operate in temperatures from -40 to 50 degC, and humidity from 0 to 100 percent.

An OPC provides quantitative measurements of abundance and sizes of mesozooplankton ranging between approximately 0.25 and 14 mm in Equivalent Spherical Diameter (ESD), and has the capability to integrate measurements from other sensors such as a CTD, fluorometer and Global Positioning System (GPS). It can be deployed on a variety of instruments such as SeaSoar, Aries, Scanfish, MOCNESS, a bongo net or simple towing frame. The data from an OPC are typically transmitted to a data acquisition computer through two conducting wires in a towing cable at real time, but it can also be modified to have an internal memory. Large amounts of data are produced. The procedures employed by OPC users vary from; i) estimating integrated biomass by integrating the OPC size distributions, ii) comparing size distributions between OPC and net samples, and iii) simply isolating a size region in the OPC size distribution which correspond solely to specific taxa, eg. Calanus spp..

from: Zhou, M., Tande, K., 2002. Optical Plankton Counter Workshop. GLOBEC Report 17, University of Tromso, Tromso

The HOBO U20L is designed for monitoring changing water levels in a variety of applications including tidal areas, streams, lakes, wetlands, and groundwater. It outputs pressure, water level, and temperature data. The instrument can record samples, sensor measurements at each logging interval, and events data, occurrences such as a bad battery or host connected. The samples are recorded as absolute pressure values, which are later converted to water level readings using software. Absolute pressure is atmospheric pressure plus water head. The deployment of an additional HOBO U20L at the surface can be used to compensate for barometric pressure changes. Each instrument is individually calibrated. They require a coupler and optic base station or HOBO waterproof shuttle to connect to a computer. The instrument is operated with a 3.6 V lithium battery.

This series contains 3 models, U20L-01, U20L-02, and U20L-04, with different operation ranges, calibrated ranges, and burst pressures. The pressure sensor is temperature compensated between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius (C), and calibrated between 69 and a maximum of 400 kPa (depending on the model). Its accuracy is within 0.3 % of the full scale for absolute pressure, and 0.1 % FS for water level readings. The temperature sensor operates between -20 and 50 degrees C, with an accuracy of 0.44 deg C, and a resolution of 0.1 deg C. The drift is 0.1 deg C per year.

The HOBO Water Temp Pro v2 temperature logger, manufactured by Onset Computer Corporation, has 12-bit resolution and a precision sensor for ±0.2°C accuracy over a wide temperature range. It is designed for extended deployment in fresh or salt water.

Operation range: -40° to 70°C (-40° to 158°F) in air; maximum sustained temperature of 50°C (122°F) in water
Accuracy: 0.2°C over 0° to 50°C (0.36°F over 32° to 122°F)
Resolution: 0.02°C at 25°C (0.04°F at 77°F)
Response time: (90%) 5 minutes in water; 12 minutes in air moving 2 m/sec (typical)
Stability (drift): 0.1°C (0.18°F) per year
Real-time clock: ± 1 minute per month 0° to 50°C (32° to 122°F)

Additional information (http://www.onsetcomp.com/)
Onset Computer Corporation
470 MacArthur Blvd
Bourne, MA 02532

The Onset HOBO (model numbers UA-002-64 or UA-001-64) is an in-situ instrument for wet or underwater applications. It supports light intensity, soil temperature, temperature, and water temperature. A two-channel logger with 10-bit resolution can record up to approximately 28,000 combined temperature and light measurements with 64K bytes memory. It has a polypropylene housing case. Uses an optical USB to transmit data. A solar radiation shield is used for measurement in sunlight. Temperature measurement range: -20 deg C to 70 deg C (temperature). Light measurement range: 0 to 320,000 lux. Temperature accuracy: +/- 0.53 deg C from 0 deg C to 50 deg C. Light accuracy: Designed for measurement of relative light levels. Water depth rating: 30 m.

Nutrient Autoanalyzer is a generic term used when specific type, make and model were not specified. In general, a Nutrient Autoanalyzer is an automated flow-thru system for doing nutrient analysis (nitrate, ammonium, orthophosphate, and silicate) on seawater samples.

A long-range current profiler designed for combined current profile and biomass measurements. The Signature100 combines a four-beam current profiler operating at 100 kHz with an optional scientific echosounder. Applications include providing insight into the dynamics of zooplankton, krill or schools of fish; current profiling; providing insight into small-scale physical processes; and upwelling and downwelling studies. The instrument is suitable for buoy mounting with internal attitude and heading reference system (AHRS). Optional centre beam with 70-120 kHz Both the current profiler and the biomass measurements have an effective range of 300-400 m. The echosounder has a velocity resolution of 0.1 cm/s, a maximum sampling rate of 1 Hz (1/2 Hz at max output power), and a standard range of 0-1500 m.

Developed by Motoda (1957), the North Pacific Standard net or Norpac Net, has a 45 cm mouth diameter with a conical net length of 180 cm and is fitted with netting (mesh size, 0.095 mm or .33mm - GG54) made of coarse bolting silk.

This partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) analysis system sampled from the vessel R/V Tangaroa's underway system. The pCO2 was measured by infrared analysis of the carbon dioxide of air continuously equilibrated with pumped seawater. The pCO2 rig was located on a bench in the temperature controlled laboratory off the fish factory, beside the pH systems (continuous and discrete) and the alkalinity system.additional details are available in the SAGE pCO2 Data Report

A Niskin bottle (a next generation water sampler based on the Nansen bottle) is a cylindrical, non-metallic water collection device with stoppers at both ends. The bottles can be attached individually on a hydrowire or deployed in 12, 24, or 36 bottle Rosette systems mounted on a frame and combined with a CTD. Niskin bottles are used to collect discrete water samples for a range of measurements including pigments, nutrients, plankton, etc.

Neuston Nets are nets that collect zooplankton that live in the top few centimeters of the sea surface (the neuston layer). This specialized net has a rectangular mouth opening usually 2 or 3 times as wide as deep, i.e. 1 meter by 1/2 meter or 60 cm by 20 cm, with sometimes hollow piping construction to aid in flotation. They are generally towed half submerged at 1-2 kts from the side of the vessel on a boom to avoid the ship's wake.

The Multiple Unit Large Volume Filtration System (MULVFS) was first described in Bishop et al., 1985 (doi: 10.1021/ba-1985-0209.ch009). The MULVFS consists of multiple (commonly 12) specialized particulate matter pumps, mounted in a frame and tethered to the ship by a cable (Bishop et al., 1985; Bishop and Wood, 2008). The MULVFS filters particulates from large volumes of seawater, although the exact protocols followed will vary for each project.

The MultiNet© Multiple Plankton Sampler is designed as a sampling system for horizontal and vertical collections in successive water layers. Equipped with 5 or 9 net bags, the MultiNet© can be delivered in 3 sizes (apertures) : Mini (0.125 m2), Midi (0.25 m2) and Maxi (0.5 m2). The system consists of a shipboard Deck Command Unit and a stainless steel frame to which 5 (or 9) net bags are attached by means of zippers to canvas. The net bags are opened and closed by means of an arrangement of levers that are triggered by a battery powered Motor Unit. The commands for actuation of the net bags are given via single or multi-conductor cable between the Underwater Unit and the Deck Command Unit. Although horizontal collections typically use a mesh size of 300 microns, mesh sizes from 100 to 500 may also be used. Vertical collections are also common. The shipboard Deck Command Unit displays all relevant system data, including the actual operating depth of the net system.

A multiangle light scattering (MALS) detector is a form of static light scattering detector which allows the absolute molecular weight (Mw) and potentially the radius of gyration (Rg) of a sample to be measured. Multiangle light scattering (MALS) describes a technique for determining structure by measuring the change in direction or energy of scattered visible light at a number of different angles, none of which are close to the angle of incidence of the light. It is used for determining both the absolute molar mass and the average size of molecules in solution, by detecting how they scatter light.  

The Geotek Standard Multi-Sensor Core Logger (MSCL-S) is a commercially available tool for gathering both physical and chemical properties from core samples in an automated and quality controlled way. See more info from the manufracturer: https://www.geotek.co.uk/products/mscl-s/

An underwater device that collects animals and other samples under gentle suction and deposits them into a collection chamber.  Also known as an oceanographic 'slurp' sampler.  The primary components are an electrical or hydraulic pump, outlet hose connected to collection chamber, and inlet hose. 

An analytical instrument that can measure multiple parameters, such as pH, EC, TDS, DO and Temperature with one device.