Monitoring instrumentation suite
We use a suite of instruments to perform long time-series monitoring of the sea floor at Station M, off shore of the California Coast (34.5°N, 123° W). Most of the instruments used at Sta. M are autonomous, working independently at depth (4000m) without outside control for nearly a year at a time. The lab has increasingly worked toward developing instruments that collect data during extended deployments lasting up to a year.
Station M instrumentation suite (not to scale).
For an update on the results of long-term monitoring at Station M, see the open access paper:
Flash dance: Identifying marine organisms by their glow
March 6, 2019 – Scientists at MBARI recently found a way to identify several groups of glowing marine organisms by the light they produce.
Lagrangian sediment traps
Sediment traps are used to collect sinking organic matter as it descends toward the seafloor. Most sediment traps are moored in one location, but Lagrangian sediment traps drift with the currents.
Benthic Rover
The Benthic Rover autonomously transits the seafloor taking measurements of sediment community oxygen consumption, which the lab uses to calculate organic carbon demand.
Sedimentation Event Sensor (SES)
The SES is a sediment trap that images the sample rather than collecting it, allowing for a temporal resolution of hours rather than days, and more detailed analysis of sediment components.
Sediment traps
Sediment traps collect the samples needed for the lab's measure of particulate organic carbon. The sample is split into portions for microscopy, pigment analysis and carbon analysis.
Science
- Upper-ocean systems
- Midwater research
- Seafloor processes
- Areas of study
- Past research
- Research publications
