Lena Schulze Chretien Marine Science Research Institute Jacksonville University lenaschulze.webs.com/ Mon, 09/30/2019 - 12:20pm 239 Marine Sciences Bldg. Seminars Skidaway Events NOTE: This is a simulcast event from University of Georgia's Skidaway Institute of Oceanography in Savannah, GA ABSTRACT: A new profiling platform, the Coastal Bottom Drifter, was designed and built to observe near bottom environments in coastal regions. It is capable of drifting near the bottom with a prescribed clearance or at a constant depth and observe properties at up to 300 m of depth. The platform can be deployed for days or up to several months. The integrated Iridium communication allows the user to receive positions and data while the platform is surfaced, as well as send new missions to the instrument. The platform can observe various physical and biochemical parameters, such as temperature, salinity, oxygen and velocities and has the capacity to carry additional sensors to measure e.g. pH, turbidity or nutrients. In addition, it can profile to the surface at chosen intervals. The use of an acoustic bottom-tracking device allows the construction of a drifter trajectory while at the same time providing information about ocean circulation at different depths. Additionally, the ADCP provides information about suspended particles and possible sediment transport. Examples of recent deployments show that these measurements are valuable in understanding coastal environments as well as the dominant physical processes that cause mixing and set the conditions for local biological activity.
