IOEB Technical Description
The basic configuration of the IOEB consists of a surface apex and 110 m of
suspended mooring instrumentation. The apex provides flotation for the mooring, and
houses the surface electronics and batteries. The underwater mooring system is
electronically and mechanically attached to the surface package by standard
three-conductor mooring cable. Below the deepest instrument, an anchor provides tension
on the mooring to reduce sailing of the underwater system. Generally, the IOEBs produced
so far are configured nearly identically (as described below), with a few minor instrument
changes. However, the system is designed to be adaptable to a variety of scientific
configurations.
The surface electronics consist of dual ARGOS antennae, platform transmit
terminals (PTTs), and network microcontrollers, and modules to acquire data from external
meteorological and ice sensors. Due to the extreme cold temperatures that the apex is
expected to encounter, high energy density lithium batteries are used. The
microcontrollers acquire data from all the surface and underwaster instrumentation and
feed the compressed datastream to the PTTs. The meteorological sensors consist of a wind
monitor, air temperature sensor, barometer, magnetic compass, and mechanical tilt sensor.
The ice sensors consist of 3 internal ice stress sensors, 33 ice-profiling thermistors,
and an upward-pointed echo sounder to accurately detect the icefloe bottom.
Below the apex are three conductivity/temperature recorders at different depths,
an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (either 150 or 75 kHz) near the surface pointed
downward, one or two fluorometers, a transmissometer, a microfiltering water transfer
system, a particle collecting sediment trap, and an electromagnetic current meter. A
complete description of the technology of the IOEB is available in Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution Technical Report WHOI-93-45 (Krishfield et al., 1993).
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The basic configuration of the IOEB consists of a surface apex and 110 m of
suspended mooring instrumentation. The apex provides flotation for the mooring, and
houses the surface electronics and batteries. The underwater mooring system is
electronically and mechanically attached to the surface package by standard
three-conductor mooring cable. Below the deepest instrument, an anchor provides tension
on the mooring to reduce sailing of the underwater system. Generally, the IOEBs produced
so far are configured nearly identically (as described below), with a few minor instrument
changes. However, the system is designed to be adaptable to a variety of scientific
configurations.
