Shannon Hoy, the expedition’s mapping lead, replenishes the expendable bathythermographs (XBTs) in the XBT auto-launcher. The XBTs collect temperature data about the water column and, when combined with historical salinity profiles from the World Ocean Atlas, allows the mapping team to generate sound velocity profiles that are applied to the multibeam mapping data. The XBT auto-launcher was designed by the NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory and enables remote launches of XBTs by personnel on the ship or on shore.
Shannon
Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2019 Southeastern U.S. Deep-sea Exploration. Download image (jpg, 4.8 MB).
Shannon Hoy, the expedition’s mapping lead, replenishes the expendable bathythermographs (XBTs) in the XBT auto-launcher. The XBTs collect temperature data about the water column and, when combined with historical salinity profiles from the World Ocean Atlas, allows the mapping team to generate sound velocity profiles that are applied to the multibeam mapping data. The XBT auto-launcher was designed by the NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory and enables remote launches of XBTs by personnel on the ship or on shore.
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