When the acoustic doppler Aquadopp Profiler was introduced in 2000 it represented a completely new generation of current profilers, and even today it remains a cutting edge current profiler. At 2.4 kg, you can carry 2 under each arm, you can deploy it with ease, and you can mount it in places you never dreamed of. The Aquadopp Profiler provides high quality accurate and unbiased data, and it has the classical advantages of acoustic Doppler systems including insensitivity to biofouling and no moving or protruding parts.
The Aquadopp Profiler is an inexpensive tool for shallow water measurements on time scales larger than 1 second. It gives you speed and direction in up to 128 different layers of the water column. The system electronics integrates Doppler velocity with temperature, pressure, tilt, and compass information – all standard with each instrument. The system also has built-in solid state recorder and batteries. State-of-the-art power management and miniaturized electronics combine in a compact single-canister design that is suitable for real-time operation or self-contained deployments.
The Aquadopp Current Profiler comes with a complete suite of Windows® 2000/XP/Vista software for deployment planning, real time data collection and data retrieval. For special applications, the system can be operated from any third party controller using the RS232 or RS422 interface or your own PC program using Nortek ActiveX controls.
Midlife electronics
In the summer of 2008, the Aquadopp profiler was equipped with the midlife electronics. This board is 10 cm shorter so the standard length of the instrument (batteries included) shrunk to a little more than 40 cm. Other improvements:
- Range increased by 20-30% due to increased output power
- Maximum solidstate recorder increased to 9/32/176/352 MB
- Canister length can be increased to accomodate double alkaline batteries so deployment lengths can be doubled. Two lithium batteries is only an option.
Applications
The Aquadopp Profiler is designed with flexibility in mind. Typical applications include shallow water oceanography (< 100 m water depth), harbor monitoring, and scientific studies in rivers, lakes, and channels. It can be deployed in small, low cost bottom frames, on a mooring rig, on a moored surface buoy or on any other fixed structure. The Aquadopp Profiler works equally well in typical ocean surface water and in the high sediment suspensions found near the coast or in rivers. A variety of head designs ensure optimal measurement conditions regardless of deployment surroundings. The Aquadopp Profiler can be used in stand-alone mode with internal data recording or online, communicating via phone or radio modem.
The Aquadopp profiler can also collect wave data measurements (PUV) interleaved with the mean current profiles and can thus be operated as a combined wave and current system if there is adequate recorder space and battery capacity.