State of the art of the E2M3AState of the art of the E2M3A

†M. Gačić, V. Cardin, G. Gelsi, F. Arena, M. Burca, L. Perini, D. Sorgo

*F. Gasparoni, F. Zanon

¶ G. Civitarese, V. Ibello

MFSTEP – Second Annual Meeting, Bologna, 7-10 February 2005

Ogs†, Tecnomare *, Ismar¶

year 2003year 2003 05/03-10/03 buoy tests in Trieste harbor

year 2004year 2004

January buoy transferred to Bari Feb 16 to buoy installed at site and operative (only meteo and CT)

Aug 06 Apr 06-09 integration work (to reach MFSTEP configuration) in Bari harbor Sep 18 buoy installed at site Sep 19 MFSTEP-TOP started Sep 25 last daily message indicates failure of some sensors and anomalous

position; mission stopped, buoy put in “idle mode” waiting maintenance intervention,

Oct 17 buoy drifted 2 miles towards NW due to the action of a strong Scirocco Wind

Oct 18 recovering of the E2M3A 8 miles NW apart from the original mooring position and towed to Bari Harbor

Main eventsMain events

MFSTEP – First Annual Meeting, Bologna, 7-10 February 2005

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

1 30 59 88 117 146 175 204 233 262 291 320 349 378 407 436 465 494 523 552 581 610 639 668 697 726

METEO_Mean_WSpeed[m/s]

METEO_Sustained_WSpeed[m/s]

METEO_Gust_WSpeed[m/s]

Some Pre-TOP ResultsSome Pre-TOP Results

March 2004

METEO_Mean_Pressure[mbar] - marzo 2004

980

990

1000

1010

1020

1030

1040

1 23 45 67 89 111 133 155 177 199 221 243 265 287 309 331 353 375 397 419 441 463 485 507 529 551 573 595 617 639 661 683 705 727

April 2004

METEO_Mean_Temp[°C] - aprile 2003

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

1 22 43 64 85 106 127 148 169 190 211 232 253 274 295 316 337 358 379 400 421 442 463 484 505 526 547 568 589 610 631 652 673 694 715

Atmospheric Pressure

• Mission started 19/9 at 8h

• CTD chain failure on 24/9 10h

• Meteo station failure on 24/9 23h (reason still unknown)

• In the subsequent hours, the buoy changes position (reason still unknown)

• Mission stopped 25/9 at 7h

• all the basic functionalities of the data acquisition and control system are maintained (the buoy is periodically interrogated from Tecnomare)

• some days later a fishing boat found the buoy still moored and the CTD chain in good status, apart the inductive cable broken

• maintenance intervention is being organised

MFSTEP TOP mission eventsMFSTEP TOP mission events

MFSTEP – First Annual Meeting, Bologna, 7-10 February 2005

41.258

41.26

41.262

41.264

41.266

41.268

41.27

41.272

41.274

17.654 17.656 17.658 17.66 17.662 17.664 17.666 17.668 17.67

25/9 1:00

25/9 7:00Stop mission

19/9 8:00Start mission

15/10 21:00

Buoy position (19/9 – 15/10)Buoy position (19/9 – 15/10)

MFSTEP – First Annual Meeting, Bologna, 7-10 February 2005

Damages…Damages…

Data acquisitionData acquisition

T o p P e r i o d W i n d D a t aT o p P e r i o d W i n d D a t aSeptember 2004September 2004

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

19/09/04 20/09/04 21/09/04 22/09/04 23/09/04 24/09/04

SUSTAINED WIND SPEED [m/sec]

GUST WIND SPEED [m/sec]

0

60

120

180

240

300

360

19/09/04 20/09/04 21/09/04 22/09/04 23/09/04 24/09/04

SUST. WIND DIR. [deg]

GUST WIND DIR [deg]

Speed

DirectionDirection

MFSTEP – First Annual Meeting, Bologna, 7-10 February 2005

temperaturetemperature

14

14.2

14.4

14.6

14.8

15

15.2

15.4

15.6

15.8

16

19/09/04 20/09/04 21/09/04 22/09/04 23/09/04 24/09/04

CTD 1 TEMP CTD 2 TEMPCTD 3 TEMP CTD 4 TEMP

conductivityconductivity

46

46.5

47

47.5

48

48.5

19/09/04 20/09/04 21/09/04 22/09/04 23/09/04 24/09/04

mS

/cm

CTD 1 COND CTD 2 CONDCTD 3 COND CTD 4 COND

TOP – PERIOD September 2004

MFSTEP – First Annual Meeting, Bologna, 7-10 February 2005

rc data

0

50

100

150

200

250

0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0

Nitrate Concentration (µM)

Dep

th (

m)

19/09 12am 20/09 0am 21/09 00am

21/09 12am 22/09 12am 23/09 0am

TEMPORAL EVOLUTION OF NITRATE LEVELS

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

19.0 19.5 20.0 20.5 21.0 21.5 22.0 22.5 23.0 23.5

Time (day of Semptember)

Nit

rate

Co

nce

ntr

atio

n (

µM

)

25 m 50 m 75 m 100 m 200 m

The system is able to produce two five-depth profiles per day

The precision of the measurements is within 10% in the concentration range 0-5 µM.

Results of the first full-operative week during the second half of September

2004, before the accident

Preliminary outcomesPreliminary outcomes1. Analysis of data collected allowed to verify that most of

the sensors were correctly operating: Automatic daily data transmission from the buoy to the OGS ftp

server verified; Automatic transmission of status messages via e-mail verified; Status parameters (battery voltage, current consumption etc.)

inside the expected ranges; Operation of the CTD chain verified;

2. Some problems occurred: conductivity sensor of the CTD mounted at 100 m gave false

readings; CT mounted at buoy hull did not responded; All meteo data, apart of the calculated sustained and gust values,

were saved in a wrong format in the hourly message (due to a bug in the data acquisition software, identified and corrected)

Some more..Some more..

3. Operation of the nutrient analyser integrated to the automatic water sampling system verified

measurements at 5 depths every 12 hours

each measurement consists of 3 measurement cycles (macro S) + 1 calibration cycle (Macro T)

a refresh cycle (macro R) every half an hour

reagents stored in a fridge unit to increase autonomy

MFSTEP – First Annual Meeting, Bologna, 7-10 February 2005

Some outcomes of the multi-level nitrate samplings

Apart the first profile, there is a substantial constancy of the nitrate levels with time;

the innovative pumping system and the analytical apparatus demonstrated to work almost perfectly, allowing the automatic collection, for the first time to our knowledge, of nitrate vertical profiles from an open sea buoy;

The recovery of the mooring after the accident gave us the occasion to further improve the system with a partial re-design of the pump-tubes line;Apart the first profile, there is a substantial constancy of the nitrate levels with time;

the innovative pumping system and the analytical apparatus demonstrated to work almost perfectly, allowing the automatic collection, for the first time to our knowledge, of nitrate vertical profiles from an open sea buoy;

The recovering of the mooring after the accident give us the occasion to further improve the system with a partial re-design of the pump-tubes line;

MFSTEP – First Annual Meeting, Bologna, 7-10 February 2005

Future developments…Future developments…

Following the insurance company payment for the damages and lost components, completion of the original E2M3A configuration will be done. The buoy will be re-deployed subsequently and not later than September 2005.

In March 2005 an oceanographic multidisciplinary cruise of the Italian R/V Urania will be carried out in the area of South Adriatic Pit. In this occasion, a sediment trap at 150 m depth will be deployed.

According to financial resources, the system will be up-graded with a 3-line nutrient analyser (nitrate, phosphate and silicate), preferably together with an automatic sampler for biological samples.

MFSTEP – First Annual Meeting, Bologna, 7-10 February 2005