Emperor and Empress of Japan Visit [1]

[2]

On Sunday, July 12, their Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan toured exhibits of the NEPTUNE Canada Project and in particular examined the Vertical Profiler System during a visit to the Institute of Ocean Sciences [3], Sidney, BC.  The Emperor is a marine biologist with an interest in fish of the western Pacific.

Chris Barnes, Project Director along with Mairi Best, Associate Director Science, and Richard Thomson, DFO Scientist working with NEPTUNE Canada, provided a tour and presentation of the $1M profiling system, built for the NEPTUNE Canada ocean observatory by the Japanese company, Nichiyu Giken Kogyo [4] (NGK).

The profiling system is a potentially valuable observing platform for scientists, profiling 400 metres of the water column and providing continuous real-time data on a range of oceanographic parameters including; temperature, salinity, currents, nutrients, CO2, fluorescence, light and plankton.  The profiling system will help scientists to better understand the timing and intensity of spring blooms as well as other linkages that drive change in coastal ocean processes.

With Ocean Neptune Canada’s NEPTUNE installation well underway the profiling system will be installed on the continental slope off the west coast of Vancouver Island during the instrument installation, later this summer.

Profiling system science instruments:

• Upwelling irradiometer
• Downwelling irradiometer
• Nitrate sensor
• CTD
• Oxygen sensor
• CO2 sensor
• Fluorometer/turbidity sensors
• Hydrophone
• ADCP
• Echosounder