Moored profilers are a wonderful technology that enable repeated profiles of the water column. However, they tend to run out of batteries too soon for time series as long as we want them. In this project we have developed a system of inductively charging a McLane profiler from a large bank of underwater batteries (actually 5100 "D" cells). The goal is to enable the profiler to profile the entire water column every hour or so for a whole year. This would be a big (ten-fold) advance over current capabilities. We have tested the system in Puget Sound and at Station ALOHA. The system worked perfectly in Puget Sound. However, as yet we have not had success in the open ocean because of various failed components of the system. The final deployment of the system will take place in January. First, the system will be tested once more dockside in Hawaii. |
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