FAQs Archive - Sea-Bird Scientific Blog

My SUNA nitrate sensor is not transmitting or storing valid nitrate concentration data in high sediment, high turbidity, low light transmission environments, or freshwater inrush events. What can I do to mitigate this?

SUNAs ordered with the 5mm path length coupler as a factory option will perform much better in low light transmission waters due to the shorter length the light needs to travel leading to less absorption. Equipping your SUNA with the factory bio-wiper option will also...

Why did my Navis float unexpectedly start its mission during pre-deployment testing?

There are two ways the Navis float can start a mission without the user explicitly starting pressure activation or mission execute: (1) Not freezing the float: If the float is not frozen (I F command) before the communications dongle is removed, the float controller...

What happens when a Navis float is nearing the end of its functional life?

If all internal systems on the Navis float are functioning within normal parameters, the end of the floats functional life should be caused by the depletion of the main batteries. The only warning of eventual failure is that prior to full battery depletion, the float...

Can my Navis float to report available battery capacity or charge consumed?

No. The Navis does not have charge monitoring capabilities. Typically information of that nature takes a coulomb counter chip, but the overhead with managing the data and powering such a chip is not a current Navis capability and is not expected to be added in the...

What is the difference between the Internal pH reference and External pH reference on my SeaFET?

The ISFET has two reference electrodes: an internal reference and an external reference, that give separate reference potentials to the ISFET and show separate pH values (pH Internal and pH External). After the corrections for temperature and salinity are applied, the...

How can I determine if an SBE9 or SBE9plus CTD is compatible with a specific SBE11 or SBE11plus deck box?

There are several considerations when determining whether the deck box and CTD underwater unit will be compatible. (1) In most cases (with the exception being (2), below), instruments with the "-plus" designation are compatible with each other, but the "-plus"...

In an inductive telemetry system, what is the maximum recommended resistance of the mooring wire and seawater return path that would allow communications to function properly?

We do not specify a maximum line resistance. However, the Inductive Modem systems are very tolerant of the resistivity of seawater. It is typically only a consideration when the system is being deployed in freshwater lakes, etc. where the salinity level is a lot...

What are the drawbacks to using my own home made artificial seawater instead of filtered seawater on my Seafet external reference pH?

Artificial seawater is problematic because the salts in artificial seawater do not completely dissolve leaving you with a solution that does not completely match the ionic concentration of seawater. This is true for synthetic blends (made for aquariums) or ones made...

What is the optional “Serial Uplink” feature on the SBE 9plus?

This modification allows the SBE9plus CTD to accept an RS-232C serial instrument data stream and transmit to the surface. The acceptable baud rate at the SBE9plus CTD is determined by the EPROM version installed in the modem board. These modem board options include,...

Why is the raw serial output counts on my ECO showing a static output value and not changing?

The detector wiring is damaged, especially if the LED’s are still flashing. NOTE: CDOM channels do not have visible LED’s, so, do NOT look into the CDOM LED port to confirm its operation (!!). The ECO firmware is programmed to output an unchanging “floor” value of...

Seattle Ocean Science Happy Hour

Please join us alongside BioSonics, Marine Technology Society, and Sequoia Scientific as we host a Seattle Ocean Science & Technology Conference Happy Hour! Date: Wednesday, November 29, 2023 from 5:30 - 8:30pm Location: National Nordic Museum | 2655 NW Market...

Featured in ECO Mag: Deep-Sea Exploration with the SBE 49 FastCAT

We were excited to be featured in ECO magazine’s latest digital edition of their Deep-Sea Exploration series. In the spring of 2018, Triton Submarines reached out to the team at Sea-Bird Scientific, to express interest in using our SBE 49 FastCAT CTD (conductivity,...

ADMT-24

Sea-Bird Scientific is excited to be attending ADMT-24 in Hobart, Tasmania from October 23 - 27. The Argo Data Management Team Meeting is a time for the data managers who contribute to international Argo to come together and discuss technical matters pertaining to the...

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