BASE LINES. MARINE ENVIRONMENT
Ocean Integrated Solutions
BASE LINES. MARINE ENVIRONMENT
The Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler, or ADCP, is a device that uses sound waves to measure the speed and direction of currents throughout the water column. It records how water moves in the ocean providing important information about the biological, chemical and physical properties of the ocean. The ADCP employs the Doopler effect by transmitting sound “waves” in a sequence of pulses that bounce off suspended particles in moving water and reflect back to the instrument. Since the particles move at the same speed as the water carrying them, the difference in frequency between the sound waves the profiler sends out and the sound waves it receives can be used to calculate how fast the particles are moving and the water around you. In this way, it is possible to determine the speed and direction of the different currents that exist from the ocean surface to the bottom (or the depth range of the instrument). Plotting the calculated speed and direction by depth results in what is known as a water current profile. (NOAA, 2022).
They are instruments used to measure the circulation of the ocean surface, they are composed of a floating system approximately 50 cm high and it is what remains below the surface of the sea and includes a transmitter to transmit data via radio on its surface. The buoyancy system follows the flow of the ocean surface current and is tracked by transmitting its geo-location via radio.
Phytoplankton and zooplankton have certain ecological requirements that determine their distribution patterns, and that organisms respond quickly to environmental changes, so monitoring changes in the distribution and composition of phytoplankton and zooplankton, as well as changes environmental, they can allow a certain predictive capacity to establish an environmental monitoring system; that is, it can be used as an indicator of the health condition of the ecosystem. Phytoplankton analysis: This sampling was carried out with the help of oceanographic bottles, a steel cable, a dead weight and an electric winch. Once positioned at the station to be sampled and with the help of the equipment described above, one bottle is lowered to the bottom of the sea and the other bottle is lowered a few centimeters below the surface of the sea, a messenger is sent to close the two bottles. The sample is stored in 250 ml amber bottles and 1 ml of Lugol's is added for preservation. Zooplankton analysis: This sampling was carried out with the help of the net, a steel cable, a dead weight and an electric winch. Once positioned at the station to be sampled and with the help of the equipment described above, the net is lowered to the bottom of the sea, slowly raised to make the water pass through the walls of the net and thereby capture zooplankton organisms. The sample is preserved in 500 ml vials and 4% formalin is added for preservation. Water quality analysis: This sampling was carried out with the help of oceanographic bottles, a steel cable, a dead weight and an electric winch. Once positioned at the station to be sampled and with the help of the equipment described above, one bottle is lowered to the bottom of the sea and the other bottle is lowered a few centimeters below the surface of the sea, a messenger is sent to close the two bottles. One gallon of seawater is taken from each depth and each station. It is preserved cold.
The topo-bathymetric survey provides us with beach and terrain profiles to analyze and know the corridor of the land where an installation is planned. The side scan sonar system (SSS) is used for the characterization of the seabed, as well as to have a better interpretation and characterization of the conditions of the seabed. Side Scan Sonar (SSS) is accepted as a survey aid, as no survey on the continental shelf can be considered complete unless a complete sonar sweep has been made.
Autonomous digital CTD (Conductivity, Temperature and Depth), CastAway, is a device that obtains vertical profiles of the structure of salinity, temperature, conductivity, depth at each meter in the water column and up to the seabed. The recorded information is recorded in the internal memory of the instrument.
