Core CTD data
Project Manager/Lead Scientist: Dave Caress

Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) data collected using MBARI remotely operated vehicle (ROV) underway and profiler CTD systems have been designated as core data streams. Support for the maintenance, calibration and configuration of the instruments, electronics and related support hardware as well as support for the processing and archiving of the data, is provided on an institutional basis rather than through individual projects or divisional budgets.

The primary elements of this project are:

• Maintenance, configuration and calibration of MBARI CTD instrumentation and all associated system hardware.
• Maintain measurement accuracy and reliability required for core CTD data.
• Data processing, archiving and dissemination through the Biological Ocean Group database.
• Data validation through Science data "champions". Monthly status reports are to be given to MBARI Data Users Committee.

The project includes instrument maintenance and calibration, related hardware and electronics, system upgrades, related tools and consumable supplies, CTD Technician time for maintenance, data processing, and data integrity issues and minimal time for software support and development. Additionally, efforts are planned to continue purchasing additional sensors for use as spares in the calibration rotation and to standardize instruments of a certain type.