List of possible ship-based Science activities.
Note most voyages will likely have only one or two activities.
Specific dedicated Marine Science voyages will be the exception.
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler
An Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP or ADP) is a sonar that attempts to produce a record of water current velocities for a range of depths. ADCPs can be configured in many ways: side-listening, into rivers and canals for long term continuous discharge measurements, downward-listening and mounted on boats for instantaneous surveys in the ocean or rivers, and mounted on moorings, or the seabed for long term current & wave studies. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_Doppler_Current_Profiler)
Acoustic Recording Package
Logs acoustics from whales passing by and the package is deployed on the bottom in one spot for extended periods (up to 2 years)
Acoustics
ARGO Floats deployed
Global array of free-drifting profiling floats that measure the temperature and salinity of the upper 2000 m of the ocean in or near real-time.
ARGOS PTT Tagging (typically seals)
Bathymetric Survey
Benthic camera
Camera used to take images of benthos, typically attached to RMT or CTD platforms.
Benthic samples taken
samples may be taken as by-catch or as a targeted trawl
Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) tows
The CPR is a self-contained mechanical automatic sampler towed 100 m behind the ship at about 10 m depth, trapping plankton and other small biota.
CTD Bottle Data
Water samples from below surface are collected in Niskin bottles attached to the CTD rosette. Up to 24 bottles can be used. Typical data will be chemical data such as Phosphorus.
CTD Cast Data
CTD is an acronym for Conductivity-Temperature-Depth. It measures the salinity, temperature, depth in a vertical profile from the surface. The longest casts can exceed 4000 metres.
CTD Water Bottle analysis data
Includes viscosity, particulates, DMS, DMSP etc.
Current Moorings
DMS and DMSP Data
DMS is Dimethyl sulfide and is a breakdown product of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP). Emission occurs over the oceans by phytoplankton.
Drifting moorings deployed
eXpendable CTD (XCTD) deployments
XCTD is an eXpendable CTD probe capable of reaching over 1,000 m of depth when dropped from a moving ship. The hydrodynamically designed probe contains a conductivity sensor, a temperature sensor, a battery, and system electronics.
Fast Repetition Rate Fluorimeter
Fast Repetition Rate Fluorimeter Underway
Fish catch
Fish are caught via RMT or similar nets
Flow Cytometry Data
Gravity cores
Ice buoys deployed
Iceberg observations
Measurements of the size and location of icebergs as they travel in the circumpolar current.
Instantaneous Growth Rate Experiments
Instruments
events linked to managing instruments such as calibrations, sensor cleaning, sensor changes etc. Mostly managed by STS marine group.
International Young Gadoid Pelagic Trawl net (IYGPT)
The IYGPT net has approximate mouth dimensions of 5.5 m high × 12 m wide when fishing, with mesh size of 100 mm in the front, then tapering through 80 mm¿40 mm¿20 mm to 10 mm mesh size in the cod end. Deigned for catching cod, it is useful for sampling fish in the Southern Ocean that live in the pelagic zone such as the Antarctic Silverfish P. antarcticum and myctophids.
Krill specimens taken
Krill Swarm Data
Lowered Accoustic Doppler Current Profiler (LADCP) Datasets
The LADCP is mounted on the CTD frame and is lowered through the water column from surface to bottom on each CTD cast. During the cast upward and downward facing sensor heads ensonify the water column with four beams per head, collecting the data necessary to calculate the vertical velocity of the LADCP on the CTD frame, as well as the northward and eastward components of the current relative to the LADCP for the entire water column.
Meterological buoys deployed
Micobe sampling
Mixed Layer Data
Mooring event
unspecified (see also current meter and sediment traps)
Non-specific sampling
Used to tag sampling data that are not otherwise specified in other activity types.
Other general observations
Phytoplankton Samples
Ring Net
RMT CTD Data
CTD instrument is attached to a Rectangular Midwater Trawl (RMT) net
Routine Rectangular Midwater Trawl Station
Sea Ice Photography
Images are stored in the Aerial Photograph Catalogue - see Aerial Photography Series to choose the particular voyage collection.
Seal Survey
Sediment traps/grabs used
Seismic Lines
Surface Net samples
Small surface nets are deployed to catch biota in the top few metres of the ocean.
Target Rectangular Midwater Trawl Station
Underwater video camera
Underway Data & Voyage Tracks
Data logged from various sensors (weather, sea) etc on the ship. Typically recorded every 10 seconds for the entire voyage.
Upward Looking Sonar
Viscosity Data
Whale Acoustic Data
Whale Survey Data
typically taken from dedicated and specific cetacean surveys where a strict observation methodology is followed.
Wildlife at Sea observations
Observations of seabirds typically taken every daylight hour. Incidental observations of seals and whales are also recorded.
XBT deployments
Expendable Bathythermograph (XBT) is used to obtain information on the temperature structure of the ocean to depths of up to 1500 meters. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expendable_bathythermograph)
Zooplankton collections