Zooming in shows salinity and dissolved oxygen are fluctuating heavily alongside the tidal cycle. Can you determine what is causing this?
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Q&A: Measurements Along the Tidal Cycle
Zooming in shows salinity and dissolved oxygen are fluctuating heavily alongside the tidal cycle. Can you determine what is causing this?
Q&A: Negative Oxygen Values
Dissolved oxygen should not be negative. Can you determine the error that created the unusual oxygen profile above?
RS-232 Sensor Integration Guide
Unlike analog auxiliary sensors, instruments that output serial RS-232 data are more challenging to integrate with Sea-Bird Scientific CTDs. Despite RS-232 being a standard communication protocol, most instruments have a unique data output format and command set. As...
Tech Tip: Cable Search
Consider this hypothetical situation: you find a loose cable with a 6-pin connector and a 4-pin connector - exactly what you need to connect an oxygen sensor to your CTD. However, just because the cable ends fit on the instrument connectors, you still don’t know if...
Q&A: Diagnose This Profile
The data shows conductivity from a 19plus deployed in a shallow estuarine river. The red line shows the CTD downcast and the green line shows the upcast. While the upcast data show the expected shape for a CTD profile (low conductivity at the surface, rising conductivity as the CTD descends), the downcast shows an unusual shape in until about 2.6 meters depth, where conductivity appears to suddenly correct itself.
Discontinued – WQM and WQMX
July 2020 Newsletter Over the past 12 years, the WQM and WQMX have been integral to accelerating the understanding of natural waters. This instrument family was the first collaboration between WET Labs and Sea-Bird Electronics before our companies became fully...
Tech Tip: Julian Days Format
Tech Tip: Julian Days Format “Julian Days” is a numerical timestamp format, calculated by Sea-Bird Scientific CTDs as the number of the days since Jan 1 of that year (e.g., noon on Feb 3 = 34.5). While this format is useful, it is usually more convenient to display...
Q&A: Diagnosing Salinity Spikes
Q&A: Diagnosing Salinity Spikes The figure above shows a time series of salinity from a moored CTD. For most of the deployment, salinity showed frequent downward spikes, dropping from an expected range of 18-26 psu to near zero. Can you determine the cause?...
Product Update | AC-9 Discontinuation and Service Timelines
In 2011, the Sea-Bird Scientific AC-9 (formerly WETLabs AC-9) was discontinued and replaced by the Sea-Bird Scientific AC-S. We recognize that many users rely on Sea-Bird Scientific products for several years, so we have continued to offer Best Effort Service for the...
Ocean Sciences 2020 Conference Posters
Missed us at Ocean Sciences 2020? Check out digital copies of our Science Team’s conference posters to learn more about what they are working on: Field Performance of an ISFET Based Profiling pH SensorCharles W. Branham, Vladislav Simontov, Yuichiro Takeshita &...
Q&A: Two Symptoms of the Same Problem
May 2020 Newsletter The data above show two major symptoms of the same problem occurring in different locations on a 19plusV2 profiling CTD. On the left, oxygen appears to drop below zero and is highly erratic during the downcast (light blue). However, once it hits a...
Featured Posts
Photo Contest Winners
From intrepid underwater shots to time-worn photos of vintage sensors, the day-to-day of marine science produces some arresting photography. People from around the globe submitted their best shots for their chance to win in 5 categories: Best on Deck (or Dock)...
Inductive Modem Telemetry
Bulkhead connectors, the sole line of communication to countless sensors, are robust and sturdy. They have to be - we place a lot of faith in their ability to exclude corrosive seawater and support a steady flow of electricity. And while tens of thousands of...
Q&A: Measurements Along the Tidal Cycle
There’s a lot to unpack here – salinity is either 0 psu or highly erratic for most of the deployment, and dissolved oxygen shows an unrealistically smooth pattern when compared to a nearby CTD. Zooming in on just a few days shows that both salinity and dissolved...