SmartBay Observatory CTD and Oxygen Data (Raw)

The data includes a live video stream, the depth of the observatory node, the water temperature and salinity, and estimates of the chlorophyll and turbidity levels in the water which give an indication of the volume of phytoplankton and other particles, such as sediment, in the water. Maintenance take place on the observatory every 18 to 24 months. This CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, Depth) and Oxygen Dataset comprises of the raw data that is collected from the Galway Observatory site using an Idronaut Ocean-Seven 304 plus Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) sensor probe.

The sensor measures the temperature and conductivity of the seawater. The conductivity is used to calculate an estimate of the salinity. The pressure exerted by the seawater above is used to calculate the depth of the sensor, and these parameters are also used to estimate the speed of sound within the sea.

The Ocean-Seven 304 Plus CTD has also been equipped with a polarographic IDRONAUT dissolved oxygen sensor which measure the dissolved oxygen concentration of the seawater. From the 26th August 2021 a new SeaBird CTD 16CT plus and dissolved Oxygen sensor was deployed and will replace the Idronaut The sensor is deployed on the EMSO Smartbay Cable End Equipment Node in Galway Bay in approx. 25m depth of water. The raw data are stored in txt (ASCII) files generated once a minute with a reading every second.

Text files contain ASCII variables separated by tabs. These files may be read by virtually any text editor or spreadsheet program. When interpreted as tabular/spreadsheet data, tabs are equivalent to column divisions, and newline characters are row divisions.

For additional information please refer to spiddal.marine.ie/data.html Suggested

Citation

Gaughan, Paul. (2019) SmartBay Observatory CTD+Oxygen Data (Raw). Marine Institute, Ireland. doi:10/dbqx.