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Expedition 2019: Highlights Story Map

duncanlowrie@uvic.ca — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 19:36:10 +0000

Click here for the full screen interactive experience.

Folger Pinnacle Maintenance Mission Complete

nnk@uvic.ca — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 07:00:00 +0000

On Wednesday, 23 October 2013, Folger Pinnacle platform received its last maintenance and clean-up service for the year; the right in time before the November storms will be surging across the coast again. The experienced divers from Pelagic Technologies and the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre swapped the Folger ReefCam (also known as Outreach camera) for an overhauled and nicely cleaned one, installed several test instruments (development of the Ocean Networks Canada Innovation team) and, finally, thoroughly cleaned all instruments hosted on the Folger Platform.

Stunning improvements in the data quality were observed in the 3D Camera Array (see picture), and also the current-meters provide now more accurate data. Hopefully the colder seas, shorter days, and the upcoming storm season will prevent exorbitant growth on the instruments over the winter month until save diving is possiible next year.

Many thanks to Pelagic Technologies and the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre for their help with this mission!

DISCO on the Sea Floor

rlat@uvic.ca — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 08:00:00 +0000

The VENUS Observatory opens a rare window into the undersea environment of a unique ocean ecosystem: Saanich Inlet, off the southeast coast of Vancouver Island. The observatory site here includes a wide range of sensors and instruments, including DISCO, or Digital Stills Camera system, that provides researchers with high-resolution 8 megapixel underwater images.

From the very beginning, the VENUS camera systems have been popular among biological oceanographers, allowing them to monitor and capture changes in the out-of-human reach environment. This interest in the subsea camera systems has led to a number of peer-reviewed publications.

Some of the researchers who have successfully used VENUS camera systems include Drs. Verena Tunnicliffe, Kim Juniper, Marjolaine Matabos, and Jacopo Aguzzi.

And for a fascinating look at how a DISCO time lapse captures an invasion of squat lobsters following a small phytoplankton bloom, see this related story: Dancin' on the Seafloor.

New Eyes For Wally

rlat@uvic.ca — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 07:00:00 +0000

For the past two years, 2 benthic crawlers, Wally I and Wally II have served alternating stints helping scientists at Jacobs University in Bremen, Germany explore and study the uniquely dynamic environment of the gas hydrate outcrops in Barkley Canyon.

Each time we swap out one Wally from the seafloor, the other Wally takes its place on the seafloor. With each replacement we have seen improvements in the replacement crawler's instrumentation and capabilities. The currently deployed Wally I is no exception.

In addition to Wally's front driving and science video camera, Wally I is now equipped with a high-definition side-mounted camera. This camera can record multiple images while the crawler drives and rotates, which can be combined to create large mosaic images like the one below, constructed from 70 separate HD images.

Visual surveys like these provide a good overview of the local area. And, by making regular surveys, the Jacobs University researchers will be able to study variations over time. The scientists have been surprised to find that some changes are remarkably rapid. The following pair of images were taken of the same place on 24 and 26 September 2012. Careful comparison reveals numerous changes over the 2-day period. Fish, crustaceans and even clams moved. Bacterial mats grew in some places and diminished in others. One sizeable patch of bacterial mat disappeared completely! The research team at Jacobs University are trying to understand the complex dynamics of this unique ecosystem and hope to publish some of their findings in the near future.

In the coming weeks, the Jacobs University team will undertake an intensive study campaign.

In the Spotlight

rlat@uvic.ca — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 07:00:00 +0000

A Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) has just re-deployed a seafloor camera to Saanich Inlet following maintenance. To continue the year-long observations of animal behaviour, the camera must be positioned exactly. While the ROV pilots align the camera with the scales on the seafloor, an observer on shore is examining the positioning and sending final instructions on alignment.

Making More Crabs

rlat@uvic.ca — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Image captured by VENUS camera in Saanich Inlet in mid June. Dungeness crab mating is a complex affair. The male holds the female for days “stroking” her until she molts – a process that he assists. The sperm package is delivered under the abdominal flap of the female where the eggs are extruded and fertilizes. She then incubates the eggs until they hatch. The male has long since disappeared to seek more partners.

Assessing Biorhythms in Saanich Inlet

rlat@uvic.ca — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Studying biorhythms in Saanich Inlet is an ongoing research project supported by Ocean Networks Canada. Following the initial deployment and analysis of results, published in Sensors (Aguzzi et al. 2011), the group of international collaborators is now using a seafloor camera (DISCo) that features a more developed control interface. The interface can automate the process of turning the lights on and taking imagery. The camera schedule is set to take 4 images every 30 min 24/7 which allows researchers to observe and assess changes in the environment as they occur.

DISCo on the Seafloor—New Camera Hard at Work

rlat@uvic.ca — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 07:00:00 +0000

For more than 6 years VENUS has been deploying and operating various camera systems on its network collecting imagery from Saanich Inlet and Strait of Georgia. Growing interest from the research community that rely on visual data from the deep ocean to conduct their experiments have led VENUS to expand the selection of cameras installed on the network. As of December 2011, VENUS operates 4 cameras – two in Saanich Inlet and two in the Strait of Georgia.

The 8 megapixel “DISCo” camera in Saanich Inlet is similar in specifications to the first-ever deployed on VENUS C-MAP CYCLOPS camera. However, DISCo has an improved web-enabled interface to control the camera settings. Since its deployment in December 2011, the camera has been busy taking imagery for a group of researchers in Italy, Spain and Canada and has collected more 4,500 photos. All imagery is available online – login to the VENUS Data Archive.

Folger Pinnacle Frontiers

rlat@uvic.ca — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 07:00:00 +0000

The Folger Pinnacle instrument platform was installed on August 23, 2010 and connected on February 2, 2011 by a combined team of Pelagic Technologies divers, the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre (BMSC), and Ocean Networks Canada. Since then, a wealth of data has been gathered by instruments affixed to this 23m deep platform. However, in recent months, Dilumie Abeysirigunawardena, one of our data specialists, noticed a drop in the instruments’ data quality and sensitivity. Some stopped working altogether, while signals from others have gradually diminished. (See, for example, the drop-off in irradiance from our light sensor below – you’d normally expect June to be brighter than February!)

Folger Pinnacle was not visited during our recent 3-week July cruise because it is the only site on the NEPTUNE Observatory that is serviced by professional divers; the other four nodes and the Folger Deep instrument platform (complement site at Folger Passage node; are too deep for divers and the waters at Folger Pinnacle are generally too turbulent for large remotely operated vehicles. In addition, Folger Pinnacle is a unique site, situated in a rockfish conservation zone, where sunlight penetrates to a shallow reef populated by an abundance of life.

Instrument Overview and Maintenance

We were warned by Captain John Richards of BMSC that our marker buoy was missing (again) so the first task when we arrived at location on August 2, 2011 was to install a new purpose-designed marker buoy.

On the seafloor, all the instruments desperately needed intensive cleaning due to extensive biofouling--in other words, barnacles, algae and other forms of life were taking over! This interferes with data collection as sensors and lenses become blocked.

There were 7 scientific instruments installed on Folger Pinnacle platform:

RDI Workhorse Monitor Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP)
Nortek single-point acoustic current meter
Nortek Aquadopp ADCP
Biospherical Photosynthetically Active Radiometer (PAR) light sensor
WET Labs fluorometer and transmissometer
3D high-resolution camera imaging system and LED light array
Sidus HD video camera

We were pleased to have the expertise of Glenn Hafey and the Pelagic Technologies commercial dive crew again with us this summer. This is the dive team that previously helped us install and connect Folger Pinnacle. In addition, thanks to the BMSC scientific dive team led by Siobhan Gray who captured video footage of the operations and aided in cleaning the instruments.

When they first swam down to the platform, they thought it had disappeared. Every available surface had been colonized by reef creatures and some instruments were transformed beyond recognition.

Following specific instructions from manufacturers, divers restored some of the instruments with a multi-purpose scrub and wipe sponge, plastic spatulas, a small soft bristle brush, and cotton cleaning cloths. Zinc-oxide was smeared onto transducer surfaces to deter future biofouling, but we’re not taking any bets this won’t happen! Thanks to our intrepid dive crew, the instrument platform went through an incredible transformation and it became possible to distinguish the various instruments once again.

Camera Recovery

Two instruments did not remain with the platform. The divers retrieved the Sidus HD video camera and the 3D camera array. They also removed the bio shutter from our WET Labs fluorometer/transmissometer in a very delicate process (it apparently became stuck open when a barnacle took up residence between the copper plate and the optical surface).

The instrument recovery process with divers is much different than with ROPOS. In order to recover the 3D Camera Array and the Sidus Camera Assembly, divers had to unbolt them from the Folger Pinnacle instrument platform. Next, the divers attached lift bags to the cameras’ instrument frames and inflated them. The 3D Camera Frame weighs approximately 180 lb in water and 250 lbs in air, while the Sidus Assembly weighs approximately 19 lb in water and 30 lb in air. The bags were to make the instruments neutrally buoyant and easier to control. After that they attached a line to the camera frame, which was pulled up by the surface team led by Captain John Richards of BMSC using a capstan (a revolving vertical-axled type of pulley).

Results

After cleaning we were able to regain access to good scalar data from all instruments, including the single-point acoustic current meter, which had failed in June 2011.

The following data plots reflect the improvements seen after instrument cleaning.

1) RDI Workhorse Monitor ADCP

A clear improvement resulted for this instrument, as shown in the following two plots of beam 2 signal strength before (top figure) and after (bottom figure) the cleaning program. Average echo intensity increased from 77 counts (before cleaning) to 113 counts (after cleaning).

2) Nortek Current Meter

According to the data, beam 3 failed first. Notice that the diagnostic counts after cleaning program are well below the actual beam counts, which suggests good data. All three beams showed an increased sensitivity. Also note that the diagnostics counts (blue dots) are now well below the respective beam counts, providing sufficient gap to produces reliable current projections.

3) Nortek Aquadopp ADCP

The cleaning program improved the signal strength of all three beams on the Nortek Aquadopp profiler.

The Nortek downward-looking current profiler was performing satisfactorily even before cleaning; however, initial inspections showed significant biofouling. The dive team did some rigorous and delicate cleaning to remove bio-fouling from the transducers.

4) Biospherical PAR Irradiance

This device indicates the amount of ambient light detected at the platform (23m below the surface). Sensor sensitivity increased from almost nothing to very clear daily spikes beginning August 6, 2011.

5) WET Labs Fluorometer/Transmissometer

After the bio-shutter was removed and the instrument cleaned, the variability of chlorophyll captured jumped from zero to approximately 25 ug/l.

6) 3D high-resolution camera imaging system and LED light array

The 3D high-resolution camera imaging system is getting its lighting system repaired for redeployment in 2012. A research team led by Sally Leys and Herb Yang of the University of Alberta will use the custom-built 8-lens camera system to make 3D images of sessile (non-mobile) suspension feeders living beneath the platform.

7) Sidus HD Video Camera

The Sidus video camera was intended to provide a live video spyglass for researchers studying the rich ecosystem inhabiting Folger Pinnacle Reef. Unfortunately, the camera did not function properly, and will be replaced.

(More than) a Little Help from our Friends

All in all, the 3-day cruise was a great success! We are now implementing a regular cleaning and inspection program. We wish to thank both BMSC and Pelagic for their tremendous assistance with this important work!

Ocean Networks Canada - camera

Expedition 2019: Highlights Story Map

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Folger Pinnacle Maintenance Mission Complete

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DISCO on the Sea Floor

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New Eyes For Wally

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In the Spotlight

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Making More Crabs

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Assessing Biorhythms in Saanich Inlet

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DISCo on the Seafloor—New Camera Hard at Work

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Folger Pinnacle Frontiers

Instrument Overview and Maintenance

Camera Recovery

Results

(More than) a Little Help from our Friends

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