Nanolander™ Rides New Access to the Sea
A charter vessel gets a researcher over a point of interest, but how can they access the remote interior of the sea? The Nanolander is a small, portable instrument delivery system that will carry sensor payloads and samplers to the seafloor up to 2km deep, for any length of stay, return to the surface, and radio its range and bearing directly to the recovery ship. The Nanolander adapts quickly to a variety of fieldwork, from biology to ocean chemistry. One Nanolander, dubbed DOV BEEBE by its Scripps graduate student owner, was recently carried by a SeaKeepers Discovery Yacht, the MV Niyama, for engineering evaluation tests off the coast of San Diego. Her scientific investigation studies the expansion of the oxygen minimum zones of the world oceans. The sensor pod is a Sea-Bird SBE 37-SMP-ODO MicroCAT™ C-T-ODO (P) Recorder. Other commercial sensor pods, including those from RBR Ltd, AML Oceanographic, Xylem, SonTek, Ocean Sensors, as well as researcher-built devices, are readily adapted to the Nanolander.
Additional science-enabling payloads are available from Global Ocean Design and its allied marine industrial partners. Payload upgrades include an acoustic release/command/control system, a compact time-lapse video camera and light system, a baited drop arm, and a sediment sampler with roots in the Moore corer design.
We’re encouraging a user group community to share its trials and successes. Look for training videos on YouTube soon!
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