Free-sinking temperature and salinity profiler for ocean microstructure studies

A free, slowly sinking profiler minimizes the velocity differences between its sensors and the structures which are sensed, allowing small scale features to be measured. Large quantities of data must be stored or transmitted acoustically with a free instrument. SCIMP, an acronym for Self-Contained Imaging Micro-Profiler, records 6 hours of conductivity, temperature, and pressure digitized to 16 bit accuracy every 400 ms. It sinks at rates of 3 to 10 cm/sec, photographing optical inhomogeneities for comparison with the temperature and salinity structures. Alternate sinking and rising or yo-yo stations have produced time series of microstructure profiles in essentially a single column of the ocean.