Instruments

Beardsley Drifters are near-surface satellite-tracked drifters used for observations of circulation patterns. They are WOCE-style drifters featuring holey sock drogues. Each drifter has a small (~ 30 cm diameter) surface float with ARGOS transmitter and batteries tethered to a holey sock drogue centered at 15 m below the surface. The drogue, about 10 m tall and 1 m in diameter, is designed to "lock" itself to the water so that the surface float follows the mean water motion at 15 m depth with very little slippage even in high winds. Thus measuring the drifter's position as a function of time provides a Lagrangian measurement of the 15-m ocean current.

An instrument that measures temperature digitally.

A 3D scan captures digital information about the shape of an object with equipment that uses a laser or light to measure the distance between the scanner and the object.

Microarray scanners are instruments used to detect and quantify the intensity of fluorescence of spots on a microarray slide, by selectively exciting fluorophores with a laser and measuring the fluorescence.

A microarray scanner typically consists of lasers, a special microscope, and a camera. The DNA material in the microarray is labeled with fluorescents which become excited by the lasers in the scanner. The microscope and camera work together to create a digital image of the array.

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 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.

Particle size analysis, particle size measurement, or simply particle sizing is the collective name of the technical procedures, or laboratory techniques which determines the size range, and/or the average, or mean size of the particles in a powder or liquid sample.

A free-flushing water sample bottle comprising a cylinder (polycarbonate, acrylic or PVC) with a stopper at each end. The bottle is closed by means of a messenger from the surface releasing the tension on a latex band and thus pulling the two stoppers firmly into place. A thermometer can be mounted inside the bottle. One or more bottles can be lowered on a line to allow sampling at a single or multiple depth levels. Van Dorn samplers are suitable for for physical (temperature), chemical and biological sampling in shallow to very deep water. Bottles are typically lowered vertically through the water column although a horizontal version is available for sampling near the seabed or at thermoclines or chemoclines. Because of the lack of metal parts the bottles are suitable for trace metal sampling, although the blue polyurethane seal used in the Alpha version may leach mercury. The Beta version uses white ASA plastic seals that do not leach mercury but are less durable.

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 seaFAST is an automated sample introduction system for analysis of seawater and other high matrix samples for analyses by ICPMS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry).

A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor light source that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons.

Passive devices attached to captured organisms to specifically identify them when recaptured after release.

A hydrophone is a microphone designed to be used underwater for recording or listening to underwater sound. Most hydrophones are based on a piezoelectric transducer that generates electricity when subjected to a pressure change.

A gas generator that generates hydrogen gas.

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).

Terrestrial laser scanner

A thermistor is a type of resistor whose resistance varies significantly with temperature, more so than in standard resistors. The word is a portmanteau of thermal and resistor. Thermistors are widely used as inrush current limiters, temperature sensors, self-resetting overcurrent protectors, and self-regulating heating elements.

Thermistors differ from resistance temperature detectors (RTD) in that the material used in a thermistor is generally a ceramic or polymer, while RTDs use pure metals. The temperature response is also different; RTDs are useful over larger temperature ranges, while thermistors typically achieve a higher precision within a limited temperature range, typically 90C to 130C.

An enclosed chamber designed to produce heat.

 a heated chamber for drying

The Paroscientific 410K Pressure Transducer is an absolute pressure transducer with a Digiquartz pressure sensor and precision thermometer. Operates over a temperature range of 0-125 degC and a pressure range of 0-10000 psia with a typical accuracy of 0.01% and a resolution of 0.0001%.

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 pump that uses osmotic pressure to collect water samples.

An example of an osmotic pump is an OsmoSampler (Jannasch et al., 2004) which has no electrical or mechanical parts.

References:

Jannasch Hans W. , Wheat C. Geoff , Plant Josh N. , Kastner Miriam , Stakes Debra S. , (2004),Continuous chemical monitoring with osmotically pumped water samplers: OsmoSampler design and applications, Limnol. Oceanogr. Methods, 2, doi:10.4319/lom.2004.2.102.

Plate readers (also known as microplate readers) are laboratory instruments designed to detect biological, chemical or physical events of samples in microtiter plates. They are widely used in research, drug discovery, bioassay validation, quality control and manufacturing processes in the pharmaceutical and biotechnological industry and academic organizations. Sample reactions can be assayed in 6-1536 well format microtiter plates. The most common microplate format used in academic research laboratories or clinical diagnostic laboratories is 96-well (8 by 12 matrix) with a typical reaction volume between 100 and 200 uL per well. Higher density microplates (384- or 1536-well microplates) are typically used for screening applications, when throughput (number of samples per day processed) and assay cost per sample become critical parameters, with a typical assay volume between 5 and 50 µL per well. Common detection modes for microplate assays are absorbance, fluorescence intensity, luminescence, time-resolved fluorescence, and fluorescence polarization. From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_reader, 2014-09-0-23.

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

The squidpop assay is described in detail in Duffy et al., 2015 (doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0142994).

In summary, the squidpop consists of a standard prey item: a small piece of dried squid mantle tissue, tethered to a fiberglass plant stake with light monofilament fishing line. The squidpop is assembled by first punching a 1.3-centimeter (cm) diameter disc from the squid mantle using a cork borer. A length of monofilament line is threaded through the squid disc and tied to it securely, then the other end of the line is attached to the end of the plant stake with electrical tape, leaving 1-2 cm of line with the squid piece on the end. The short length of the line helps prevent tangling the tethers when squidpops are bundled together.

Squidpops are deployed by pushing the stakes securely into the substratum. The stakes are typically arranged in one or two rows, but the spatial arrangement is of secondary importance to ensuring that the squidpops can be reliably relocated and retrieved at the end of the deployment. Squidpops are assessed for the presence or absence of the squid bait after some period of time.

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.

Rotronics device used to measure air temperature

A flat dish with multiple individual wells that are arrayed in a standardized number, size, and arrangement.

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.

Devices attached to living organisms with the purpose of determining the location of those organisms as a function of time after tagging and release.

A laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, puree or emulsify substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender container with a rotating metal blade at the bottom, powered by an electric motor that is in the base. An immersion blender configuration has a motor on top connected by a shaft to a rotating blade at the bottom, which can be used with any container.

A platform used to carry equipment and samples from the surface to the seafloor and back up again. 

A device that collects an in-situ discrete water sample from any depth and returns it to the surface without contamination by the waters through which it passes, such as a water bottle.

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

Laser diffraction is particle sizing technique for materials ranging from hundreds of nanometers up to several millimeters in size. Laser diffraction measures particle size distributions by measuring the angular variation in intensity of light scattered as a laser beam passes through a dispersed particulate sample. One example is the Beckman Coulter LS200.

Analog to Digital cards used for logging data from analog sensors (voltages, etc)

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.

The Aanderaa tide gauge measures and records the time and height of the sea surface as it changes with the tides.

"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 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).

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

A gel electrophoresis system that is used to separate DNA or RNA molecules by size, achieved by moving negatively charged nucleic acid molecules through an agarose matrix with an electric field.

A single channel, networked, gas chromatograph that separates and analyses compounds into separate components and can be used for chemical, petrochemical and petroleum analyses. The sample is introduced into the injector and then vaporised in the instrument. A chemically inert gas (e.g. helium and nitrogen) carries the vaporised solute into the column that is maintained in a temperature controlled oven. As the solute elutes from the column, it enters the heated detector. An electronic signal is generated upon interaction of the solute with the detector. The Agilent 6850 has a similar performance to the Agilent 6890N GC, but is half as wide. The local interface provides run control and status information and the instrument comes network-ready with a built-in LAN communications interface. There is a choice of detectors available, the Flame Ionization Detector (FID), Thermal Conductivity Detector (TCD) or Mass Selective Detector (MSD). There is an option of split/splitless or packed inlets, a variety of automated sample introduction systems and products available for headspace analysis. This model is no longer in production.

 Device for spraying liquid by means of compressed air.

Measures air temperature

WET Labs’ Aquatic Laser Fluorescence Analyzer (ALFA) provides spectrally and
temporally resolved measurements of key bio-environmental variables in oceanic,
coastal, and fresh waters. Operation modes allow underway shipboard measurements
and discrete sample analysis for accurate assessments of pigment biomass,
phytoplankton community structure and physiology.
 
Features
• Spectral deconvolution of overlapped fluorescence bands with Raman normalization
• Improved assessment of chlorophyll concentrations for estimating phytoplankton biomass
• Discrimination of 5 phycobiliprotein pigments for structural phytoplankton characterization
• Fluorescence assessment of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM)
• Measures variable fluorescence, Fv/Fm, with correction for background CDOM fluorescence
• Instrument software allows real-time data analysis and display with GPS coordinates and time

more information from Wet Labs

A rapid flow analyser (RFA) that may be used to measure nutrient concentrations in seawater. It is an air-segmented, continuous flow instrument comprising a sampler, a peristaltic pump which simultaneously pumps samples, reagents and air bubbles through the system, analytical cartridge, heating bath, colorimeter, data station, and printer. The RFA-300 was a precursor to the smaller Alpkem RFA/2 (also RFA II or RFA-2).

The Heatflow probe is a temperature measuring device on the submersible Alvin. It is a 0.6 m titanium tube containing a linear heater and 5 thermistors. The Heatflow probe is designed to measure temperature gradients when inserted into soft sediments.