UK: Xylem Launches New ‘FerryBox’ Water Quality Monitor

Xylem Analytics UK and Aanderaa Data Instruments have launched a new marine water quality monitor which has been designed to enable wider deployment of water quality sensors on ferries and other marine vessels.

The ‘SOOGuard’ will be launched at Ocean Business 2013 in April and Xylem’s David Goldsmith says: “In order to encourage the operators of ferries to allow the installation of monitoring equipment on their vessels, it is vitally important that the instrumentation is easy to maintain and reliable. Traditional FerryBoxes are expensive bespoke systems, but by combining considerable design experience with the latest sensor and datalogging technology, the SOOGuard offers improved performance at a substantially lower cost.”

Background

Ferries, container ships and other vessels continuously traverse ocean and coastal environments in repeated journeys that offer an excellent opportunity to generate high quality information on surface water quality. This data is extremely valuable for the management and protection of the oceans; for informing global meteorology and climate change research; for calibrating satellite imagery, and for the management of fisheries.

In recent years, marine scientists have installed continuous monitoring systems on ‘ships of opportunity’ to routinely collect spatial and temporal oceanographic data. These instruments are known as ‘FerryBoxes’ and monitor the quality of water that is pumped from a subsurface inlet – often the engine cooling water supply.

The FerryBox concept is now recognised worldwide for its potential to provide much needed data, cost-effectively. FerryBoxes have now been installed in many countries including Australia, Chile, Japan and the USA. In Europe projects such as EMECO (European Marine Ecosystem Observatory) and COSYNA (Coastal Observation System for Northern and Arctic Seas) are utilising the technology to deliver data to a wide user community.

The SOOGuard FerryBox – what’s new

In the past, FerryBoxes have been custom-built and as a result, some of the older systems are complex and difficult to service or maintain. A key objective for the SOOGuard design team was therefore to develop a FerryBox that would meet the needs of most vessels whilst requiring the minimum of operational support.

The system’s four sensors (conductivity, temperature, optical dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll a) are fitted onto the door of a flow-through cell – a design that allows simple and rapid cleaning. The sensors are very stable and require calibration checks less than once a year in most environments. Further flow-though cells can be fitted to allow for the measurement of additional parameters.

The system is complemented by a hull temperature sensor to support the chamber measurements, and a flow sensor provides confirmation that the system has a continuous feed of water.

While readings are stored locally in the system’s datalogger, communication via GSM, GPRS and Iridium satellite is also possible. Additionally, users can access transmitted data via a web-based interface.

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Press Release, March 5, 2013