AML Oceanographic has supplied a Moving Vessel Profiler (MVP) to the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel for integration into a highly flexible, mobile Earth systems observing infrastructure.
The equipment was acquired as part of the Helmholtz Association funded infrastructure known as Modular Observation Solutions for Earth Systems (MOSES), which utilizes mobile modules to investigate the interactions of short-term events and long-term trends across Earth compartments. Manufactured at AML Oceanographic’s Atlantic office in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, these MVP systems are utilized by organizations globally to minimize the technical and financial unpredictability of hydrographic and ocean science surveys.
The specific system delivered, an MVP30-350, is configured to collect critical Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD), and chlorophyll data. This data will be used by researchers to gain a better understanding of ocean carbon uptake in upwelling areas.
The system’s inaugural deployment is slated for an upcoming collaborative tracking initiative.
Johannes Karstensen, Senior Research Scientist, Physical Oceanography at GEOMAR, commented, “The first MOSES experiment where we plan to use the MVP will be a joint ship/airplane survey of ocean eddies north of the Cape Verde Islands, in the eastern tropical Atlantic Ocean.”
Ocean eddies are large, whirling water masses that can cover an area of approximately 20,000 square kilometers in the open ocean.
“We are very excited to use the MVP in this study to acquire high resolution surveys of the temperature and salinity structure with the research vessel in operation 24/7,” added Karstensen.
To achieve these high-resolution surveys while the vessel is underway, the AML system will deploy an AML CTD paired with a Turner Designs Cyclops-7F Chlorophyll Fluorometer.
The procurement contract was secured through AML’s local agent, Ing.-Buero G. Pinnow IGP of Hamburg. Following the contract award, the installation and commissioning of the MVP30-350 system aboard the research vessel FS METEOR was completed.
