Rockland Scientific International

XMP tested at DIMES

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

WHOI scientist, Dr. Lou St. Laurent, reports the successful launch of the Expendable Microstructure Profiler, XMP during the DIMES experiment that is currently under way in the Southern Pacific. The XMP reached a depth of 3800 m and showed a noise level of dissipation below 10^-10 W/kg.

Four additional XMP casts are planned for deployment in Drake passage later on during this cruise. For cruise updates, visit the cruise progress log by clicking here. For more information on the XMP, click here or send us an email (info_at_rocklandscientific.com).

The XMP used on this cruise features a new deployment system, shown in the pictures below. The expendable portion of the profiler (black, lower section) is connected to a launch platform (grey, upper section) that contains a spool of fibre optic wire through which the XMP communicates the data to the ship-board data acquisition system. The launch platform is connected to the ship by a Kevlar-reinforced cable. After deployment, the XMP separates from the launcher, which remains floating at the surface and feeds out the fibre optic wire.

2009 Year End

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:00:00 GMT

Rockland Scientific wishes all its clients and suppliers a Happy Christmas season and a successful year 2010.

We're closing our office between December 25 and January 3. Looking forward to seeing you again in the New Year.

RSI Expansion Plans for 2010

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:00:00 GMT

Rockland Scientific International is a growing company that enjoys an increasing demand for its technology and services. As part of our expansion plans for 2010 we intend to make our products available to customers in the Pacific Rim, South Asia, and India. We are in the process of establishing a representative network in this area. Our focus for 2010 is on Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, China, Taiwan, Korea, and India.

We hope to announce the full list of representative offices following the Oceanology International Exhibition in early March 2010.

IFM GEOMAR Completes Successful Mission with Turbulence Glider

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:00:00 GMT

Marcus Dengler and his team recovered their "Turbulenzgleiter," a Webb Slocum glider carrying an RSI microRider turbulence module, near the equator west off Liberia.This was the first mission for this glider-microRider and it completed without a hitch.

Group picture with the "turbulence glider", From left: Dr. Marcus Dengler - Turbulence researcher, Dr. Gerd Krahmann - glider expert, Prof. Dr. Peter Brandt - Chief Scientist M80-1, all the IFM-GEOMAR. Foto: H. v. Neuhoff. Photo: H. von Neuhoff.

The glider completed an 8-day mission with repeated dives between the surface and 350 m depth. The course was set to circle around one of IFM's equatorial moorings. A preliminary analysis of the collected turbulence data shows clear signals in the upper and lower shear zone of the Equatorial Undercurrent. "When the Glider encounters a well developed turbulent patch, its pitch and roll variance goes up suggesting that the glider behaves similar to an airplane in well developed atmospheric turbulence," reports Dengler in an email to RSI earlier this week. "The only interference from the glider we got was while it is using the pumps at the bottom of th dive and at the surface."

For more information on the "Turbulenzgleiter" visit the IFM GEOMAR press webpages.

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Photo above: Group picture with the "turbulence glider", From left: Dr. Marcus Dengler - Turbulence researcher, Dr. Gerd Krahmann - glider expert, Prof. Dr. Peter Brandt - Chief Scientist M80-1, all the IFM-GEOMAR. Foto: H. v. Neuhoff. Photo: H. von Neuhoff.

Weak Mixing linked to the Risk of Uncontrolled Gas Eruption in Lake Kivu

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:00:00 GMT

Swiss limnologists Alfred Wüest and his colleagues are conducting a study at Lake Kivu, Rwanda, to assess the potential of uncontrolled gas eruptions and the possibility of harvesting methane gas from the lake so it can be used for power generation. The team will conduct a field experiment at Lake Kivu using a customized VMP-500 to study the astonishing double-diffusive regime that causes the gas entrapment.

The VMP-500 for this study was modified to descend at an extremely slow rate of 0.1 m/s. Typical descent rates are 0.8 m/s. The slow descent will allow the scientists to resolve thermal microstructure to study the double diffusive processes, as well as the velocity microstructure to study the turbulent mixing rates.

For more information on this research project refer to the EAWAG website at this link >>>.

Further references:

Schmid et al., 2005: Weak mixing in Lake Kivu: New insights indicate increasing risk of uncontrolled gas eruption, GGG, Vol 6(7), Q07009, doi:10.1029/2004GC000892.

Lueck, 2009: Testing of the EAWAG VMP-500 at Harry Lake. RSI Application Note AN-017.

Meet us at these Upcoming Conferences

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:43:03 GMT

Physical Processes in Natural Waters, 13th Workshop. September 1 - 4, 2009. Palermo, Italy. Details >>>

Warnemünde Turbulence Days. September 14 - 17, 2009. Vilm, Germany. Details >>>

Ocean Obs '09. September 21 - 25, 2009. Venice, Italy. Details >>>

CERF 2009 Estuaries and Coasts. November 1 - 5, 2009. Portland, Oregon. Details >>>

AGU/ASLO Ocean Sciences. February 22 - 26, 2010. Portland, Oregon. Details >>>

Rockland Scientific International has a YouTube Channel

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 04:21:29 GMT

Rockland Scientific now has a YouTube channel. This channel will be updated with informational videos about our instruments. Click here to check it out.

Rockland's President Receives Applied Science Award

Fri, 22 May 2009 04:18:48 GMT

We proudly announce that Rockland's CEO, Rolf Lueck, has been awarded the 2008 Prize in Applied Oceanography by the Canadian Meteorological and Atmospheric Society, CMOS. The citation reads:

"To Rolf Lueck of Rockland Scientific, for a history of innovative development and exceptional technical support for unique and valuable instrumentation, particularly for the measurement of ocean microstructure. His work has recently resulted in the development and worldwide marketing of a series of systems for measuring ocean turbulence, leading to a rapid expansion in the measurement of important mixing processes around the globe."

The award was presented at the recent 43rd CMOS Congress in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Congratulations, Rolf! We're proud of you.

microRider Turbulence Package tested on Slocum Glider

Sat, 02 May 2009 04:17:40 GMT

The first test flight of a Teledyne Webb Research Slocum Electric Glider carrying an Rockland Scientific microRider turbulence payload was successfully conducted on May 1, 2009 in Falmouth, MA. Preliminary results from the test flight exceed all expectations for the vibration noise level. Dissipation rates of less than 5 x 10^-11 W/kg were resolved.

Florida State University researcher Dr. Lou St. Laurent championed this integration project. He is shown here with Rolf Lueck just before the launch of the glider in a small lake near Teledyne Webb's headquarters in Falmouth, MA.

Download a preliminary report on the results here. A detailed report will be presented at upcoming conference this year.

XMP -- Expendable MicroStructure Profiler Completed

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:15:58 GMT

The XMP is the latest addition to our toolbox of turbulence profilers. It features

Full ocean depth capability (6000 m),
Two shear probes, pressure sensor, accelerometer, and P25 thermistor,
Real time data transmission via fibre optic link.

Development of the XMP began in early 2008, in response to requests from our customers who required a low-cost profiler for measurements in the bottom boundary layers in the deep ocean. After several attempts, we finally arrived at a design that satisfies two divergent requirements: High accuracy & Low cost.

Shown on the right is project engineer Brett Prairie deploying a test unit in Georgia Straight. The test, carried out in February 2009, show that the XMP can resolve dissipation rates as low as 5 x 10^-10 W/kg.

The XMP consists of a 30 cm long aluminium pressure housing. Two shear probes and an SP25 thermistor protrude forward from the pressuse case. One accelerometer and a pressure transducer are contained inside, along with the electronics and alkaline batteries. The rear section of the XMP is a 100 cm long PVC extender pipe with a brush attachment to provide drag during the profiling. The extender pipe is floods with water after the launch, which increases the XMP's weight and inertia in water. Data are transmitted through an optical fibre to a ship-board laptop computer. Deck spools with up to 12,000 m of optical fibre are available.

Data from test profiles in Georgia Straight, BC, are shown below. The first profile is from a fairly energetic region. The yellow line in the spectrum panel (right) is the raw shear signal. The red line shows the spectrum of the accelerometer. The green line is the shear spectrum after signal content that is coherent with the accelerometer has been removed using our processing scripts. The solid black line is the Nasmyth Emprical Spectrum (NES) for a dissipation rate of ë ~ 2 x 10^-7 W/kg.

The panels below show the data from a quiescent region. The raw and corrected shear spectra agree well with the NES for ë = 5 x 10^-10W/kg.

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