May 28th @ 3:10pm - I just watched the deployment of the VPS instrument (Vertical Profiler System), nicknamed 'Ogopogo' off the starboard side of the ship. About the size of a small shed, this system consists of an anchored base unit with a tethered, instrumented float that can be deployed from the bottom of the seafloor. As the float rises vertically in the water column, much like a hot air balloon would in the atmosphere, it can measure a variety of characteristics of the ocean water through which it passes (temperature, conductivity, photosynthetic capacity, dissolved oxygen, etc.).
Once it completes a detailed bottom to surface run in this manner, the base unit can reel it back down, where it will wait until the next desired water column profile is needed. I'm imagining the engineering challenges of designing a system like this that is robust and reliable enough to operate for a long period of time in a host of changing ocean conditions.
Blog post by Scott Doehler
Marine Educator
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