RV Falcon Spirit
The RV Falcon Spirit is a 13.65m survey catamaran owned by the University of Plymouth, coded by the MCA as category 2 for 14 people to work up to 60nm from a safe haven. The vessel has a dry laboratory and a separate wet laboratory. She has twin 500 horsepower diesel engines. The vessel has a 165 mile range at a 15 knot service speed. She has two 600kg hydraulic capstans and a 400kg pot hauler. During the expedition it was outfitted with a CTD (see below)
Winnie the Pooh
Winnie the Pooh is a small charter catamaran owned by a private skipper, she is coded by the MCA as a category 3 vessel for 6 passengers and 1 skipper able to operate up to 20 miles from a safe haven. She has twin 90hp 4 stroke petrol outboard engines. There is deck space to deploy a number of small pieces of sampling equipment such as T/S probes and niskin water bottles, which is why she was used to sample the upper part of the estuary
CTD (Conductivity Temperature and Depth) and Niskin Bottles
The CTD set up for the Falcon Spirit measured the Temperature, Salinity, Flourometry, Turbidity and Depth with computerised closing of the attached niskin bottles at various depths. At each station the CTD was lowered to below the surface and then to 5m ensure accurate ranges for the data prior to carrying out the full profile.
The niskin bottles used on Winnie the Pooh were closed by a weight and taken only at the surface at intervals of 2 salinity units
Secchi Disk
Secchi Disks are used to determine how deep the light penetrates into the water, they were deployed at each station visited by the Falcon Spirit , from the Starboard side
Plankton Trawl Net
At sites H, C and I the plankton trawl net was deployed, again from the starboard side of the RV Falcon Spirit and dragged through the surface waters for 10 minutes at two sites and 5 minutes at the final site (Site I).
ADCP (Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler)
The ADCP system was used to collect data on the current flow during the CTD profile and in a transect across the channel, in this way we could determine the volumes coming into the estuary and the flushing times, which could affect the salinity, temperature and zooplankton of the estuary. The ADCP works by emiting an signal that reflects of particulates in the water column to calculate the speed and direct of the water movement.
CTD Rosette
Secchi Disk Deployed
Zooplankton trawl net
