Conductivity Temperature Depth V16

Ryan working with the CTD

A real time CTD record in the computer laboratory on the R/V Thompson as the rosett was being lowered to 10 meters above the seafloor at the International District vent field. The CTD vertical cast was done over the ~60 foot tall black smoker called "El Guapo". It record shows salinity (yellow), temperature (orange), Flourescence (blue-chlorophyll) and particulates in the water column (green).

A rosette with a suite of attached sensors is utilized on the Cabled Array OOI cruises to measure ocean properties and to collect fluid samples adjacent to the Shallow and Deep Profiler Moorings for instrument verification.  The sensors on the rosette include conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensors, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll fluorescence, transmissometer, pH,  a Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) sensor, and an altimeter.  It time permits during the cruise, multiple vertical casts with the CTD package will be undertaken. Shipboard and follow-on shorebased analyses of fluids will be compared to the CTD on Jason and to instruments on the moorings to examine instrument calibration and drift. CTD's are conducted prior to recovery of instruments on the mooring, and subsequent to reinstallation.