NIOT designs profilerto record ocean data in real time

A team of scientists from the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) has developed a wave propulsion-based vertical profiler (WVP) record conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) data in real time.

The trial was conducted for a week off the city coast recently.

“The U.S. has a similar system, which they call the wire walker. But this (NIOT’s WVP) is the first of its kind in India. It is a mechanical device powered merely by buoys [deployed in sea]. When it goes down, it moves at a speed of 0.35 metre per second, and at the bottom, a stopper will unlatch a lock and release it upwards, when it would move at a faster speed,” said NIOT Director Balaji Ramakrishnan.

At present, 10-12 sensors are fixed along the mooring line of the buoys and data from those fixed points are collected. When the indigenous profiler is produced, it would do away with the need for several sensors and collect more comprehensive data.

S. Muthukumaravel, Group Head, Ocean Electronics Group, NIOT, whose team developed theWVP, said such data would be useful to track the monsoon and extreme events like cyclones, and also to forecast their trajectory and strength.

“We have buoys in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. For now, we are conducting trials after which we will develop prototypes that will be installed in two buoys. We are also facing challenges like floating debris that affect the movement of the profiler,” he said.