Del Mar Oceanographic and RBR have partnered to provide Wirewalkers with RBR CTDs and sensors in Australia and New Zealand.
The DMO Wirewalker, originally designed at Scripps Institution of Oceanography , is a vertically profiling instrument platform powered by ocean waves.
Attached to a free-drifting or moored buoy, the Wirewalker ratchets downward along a suspension wire under wave power.
The ratchet releases at predetermined depth and the profiler then ascends at its terminal velocity, completely decoupled from sea-surface motion.
It obtains a very clean data to within one meter of the sea surface.
Mounting RBR’s multi-channel loggers, integrated with up to 10 different sensors and external batteries onto the Wirewalker, allows high frequency micro-structure data acquisition throughout the entire water column.
Combining the Wirewalker system further with a RBR inductive modem and RBRcervello, allows data access from anywhere in the world.
Therefore, this combination can deliver and enormous increase in vertical resolution and deployment for longer periods of time, companies say.
Chris Kontoes , sales director at Del Mar Oceanographic, said:
“There is clear synergy in pairing a NO-powered profiler with a low-powered, high-quality sensing package.
“Similarly, this partnership will surely enable research possibilities in the Australian/New Zealand region that neither company could offer on our own.“
Speaking on behalf of RBR, sales director Eric Siegel , also stated:
“The combination of the Wirewalker’s rapid vertical profiling with the high-accuracy and low-power RBR sensors have enabled a tremendous number of new measurement opportunities for scientific researchers and silent surveillance programs.
“We are excited to form a closer partnership with DMO to bring the same technology to Australia and New Zealand.“