3D Thermistor Array
During VISIONS '13 ROPOS Dive R1636, the battery-powered version of the thermistor array was deployed at a small diffuse flow site at the base of the hydrothermal chimney called Mushroom. The thermistor array will provide a 3-dimensional "view" of the temperature structure at this site, which will help inform the community about the environmental conditions under which the biological assemblages thrive and evolve. This instrument was recovered during Leg 1 of the VISIONS'14 expedition, and replaced with a cabled instrument now connected to the Primary Infrastructure. Photo credit: OOI-NSF/UW/CSSF
During ROPOS Dive R1730, the NSF-OOI-RSN high-definition video camera was tested successfully. The camera was installed in 2013 and 1-year later it worked extremely well. A test 3-D thermistor array (bottom right) that was installed last year rests on a diffuse flow site, covered in microbial filaments. To the left, a cabled 3-D thermistor array will replace the uncabled system. Photo credit: NSF-OOI/UW/CSSF; Dive R1730; V14.
A custom thermistor array, developed by UW RSN Project Scientist, Giora Proskurowski, includes four stacked triangular arrays with 24 individual temperature measurement points, providing a three-dimensional distribution of temperature. Temperatures are collected every 5 seconds from a diffuse flow site near the base of the active black smoker chimney called "Mushroom" in the ASHES hydrothermal field. All data are streamed to the OOI Data Portal, where they can be viewed and downloaded.
