Oceanographic Instrumentation and Technology
Pierre Flament, Department of Oceanography,
University of Hawaii
This class is listed as OCN-664 Oceanographic Instrumentation and
Technology (3 units) in the catalog; it counts towards the course
requirements of the Oceanography Department and is required by the
physical oceanography curriculum.
The full pdf text of the proposal that led to this course can be
found here.
It is targeted principally to second and third year oceanography students,
who are encouraged to register. The lab work may interfere with the
heavier course load of first year students, although I do not discourage
them from registering.
The objective of the class will be to expose students to state-of-the-art
instrumentation. The following categories of instruments will be covered:
pressure and sea level sensors
hydrographic profilers temperature, conductivity,
oxygen, optical
current meters mechanical, acoustic,
electromagnetic, drifters
navigation systems ground- and satellite based,
underwater acoustics, ship
attitude sensors
meteorological sensors wind, humidity, temperature,
radiation sensors
mechanical aspects winches, cables, buoys, anchors
and releases
data logging sampling and recording techniques
The class is a combination of lectures on the physical principles of
the instruments and the different sensors and systems available, of
student-led discussions of key papers from the published literature,
and of lab work scheduled separately for each student. We anticipate
being able to provide instruments in each category to work on and to
use in small research projects for the lab work.