Submersible Hydro-optical Applications for Light-Limited Oceanograhic Work
John
H
Morrow, Biospherical Instruments Inc., morrow@biospherical.com
(Presenting)
Stanford
B
Hooker, NASA GSFC, stanford.b.hooker@nasa.gov
Randall
Lind, Biospherical Instruments Inc., randy@biospherical.com
Charles
R
Booth, Biospherical Instruments Inc., rocky@biospherical.com
James
W
Brown, RSMAS, Univ. Miami, jim.brown@rsmas.miami.edu
Over the time span of the SeaWiFS mission, there has been increased attention paid to ocean color field activities in coastal waters and a continuing commitment to produce better instrumentation. Shallow waters pose special challenges for typical oceanographic profiling systems. In-water legacy systems are not always well suited for properly resolving the optical complexity near shore, principally because of overall instrument size, proximity of the sampling platform, or rate of descent. To meet the needs of researchers interested in coastal AOP measurements, Biospherical Instruments has produced a new series of instruments specifically designed to deploy in shallow waters. The initial system produced for the series is SuBOPS, the Submersible Biospherical Optical Profiling System. Mounted in a specially designed free-fall backplane, SuBOPS includes separate sensors to measure multichannel downwelling irradiance and upwelling radiance at depth, plus global solar irradiance above the water’s surface. With SuBOPS, irradiance and radiance vertical profiles can be collected in less than 3 m of water, with freefall profiling speeds 15 cm/s and vertical resolutions of 1.1 cm. With support from the NASA SBIR program, in 2008 Biospherical Instruments will introduce a series of new, expandable, in situ sensors based on an entirely new technology: the microradiometer. Multiple microradiometers matched with front end optics (collector/window/filter stack) form C-OPS, a Compact Optical Profiling System. C-OPS multiwavelength radiometers offer a smaller, faster, and less expensive profiling alternative ideal for a variety of applications – even hyperspectral measurements.
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