Tools of Oceanography Flashcards
Sounding is a technique used?
to measure the depth of water beneath a ship, where a package is attached to a line and dropped to the seafloor.
Sidescan sonar is what?
A broad sound beamis sent from an instrument tied behind a boat.
Port
The left side of a boat.
Starboard
The right side of a boat.
Bow
The front of a boat.
Stern
The back of a boat.
Identify and describe.
Reversing thermometer.Used in Nansen bottles. Only records temperature when flipped 180 degrees, and temperature does not changes while being hauled to the surface. It can therefore record temperature at a specific depth.
Identify and describe.
Hydrometer, type used in aquariums. Measures salinity in parts per thousand (ppt). Functionally measures the change in density and therefore does not account for density changes due to temperature.
Identify and describe.
Salinometer. Measures salinity in parts per thousand. Functionally measures the electrical conductivity.
Identify and describe.
Secchi Disk. Measures vertical visibility or turbidity. It is lowered by hand on a line until the disk becomes invisible.
Identify and describe.
Surface drifter. Used to measure currents. Many are released at a time in hopes of recapturing a few. (Can be a form of pollution.)Also used, same purpose:drift cards, seabed drifters (same as these but without a float)
Identify and describe.
Grab sampler. They are used to sample surface sediments. They may mix the sediments and are not used for deeper samples.
Identify and describe.
Box corer. A supporting framework is lowered to the seafloor and it sinks 20 or 30 cm into the sediment, where it pulls large amounts of sedimentup with minimal disturbance. May be very heavy and difficult to deploy.
Identify and describe.
Piston corer. Used to obtain long vertical samples (up to 50 m)of soft sediments.
Identify and describe.
Nansen bottle. Used to sample water at a specific depth. Nansen bottles are attached to a wire; a stainless steel messenger slids down and triggers the bottle to move into an “upside down” inverted position. This traps seawater.
Identify and describe.
Mechanical current meter. Measures current rate and direction.This is one type. Different types can measure current in different ways; byrate of rotation of a rotor, rate of rotation of a propeller, and by the angle of which the meter is pushed.