Seabird CTD overview and Deployment Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) Gordon Furey P&O Maritime Table of Contents Seabird 9Plus CTD Components and Overview... 2 CTD Deployment\Recovery Procedure... 7
Seabird 9Plus CTD Components and Overview 1. Seabird 9Plus CTD Components Standard SBE Rosette Setup PC With Seasave SBE11 Deck Unit 9Plus SBE32 Dual TC set Dual 5T Pump SBE43 DO Wetlabs C-Star Transmissometer Wetlabs ECO FLNTUD (Dual Turbidity and Fluroescence) Altimeter Bottom Contact Niskin Bottles Optional Sensors SBE35RT Sulphur sniffer PH sensors Radiance PAR
2. How does it all go together There are two basic sensor types. P, T & C which output a frequency.(displayed directly on the SBE11 deck unit) Auxiliary sensors output a raw voltage between 0-5 volts. End cap drawing shows what connects to each port.
2.1 What do I need to connect my instruments? Cable for each instrument type. Mounting bracket or saddle and hose clamps. (Only use correct type or instrument housings will be damaged.) Lint free wipes and silicone grease. http://www.seabird.com/maintenance-videos 3.0 Configuring Seasave Instrument Setup: Setup Primary TC Setup Secondary TC Setup Pressure Setup NAV Setup AUX sensors. Importance of entering Serial Numbers for post processing. Master xmlcon file contains your instrument config. C:\CTD_Data\2016\CE16003\Master_Con_File
3.1 Configuring Displays Fixed display (handy for pump status and modulo error count) Scrolled display (Hand to compare live TC\Salinity values) Plot display (You need to see where the thermocline events occur or other peaks in activity, DO, Fluroescence etc. 4.0 Deployment and Recovery Procedure Refer to SOP for Operating the CTD.[Printed copy available] Refer to SOP for CTD Flushing & Storage.[Printed copy available] Niskin Bottles, installing, removing, safety rope, general issues (Elastics, not firing, UV) 5.0 Trouble Shooting Q.1 The PC times out and no connection is made to CTD. A.1 Is the deck unit switched on? Check to see if two sessions of seasave are open. Reboot the PC, this will refresh any locked up serial ports that connect PC to Deck Unit\CTD. Q. 2 Items in A.1 have not fixed problem. I still cannot connect to the PC. A.2 Place thumbwheel of deck unit in position 0,1 or 2(0=Temperature, 1=Conductivity, 2=Pressure). If the Word Display on deck unit is 00000 then the sensor may be defective. Swap with a spare and see if you get a sensible number. Q.3 If you still have no communication with the CTD there may be a problem with sea cable. A.3 Check sea cable fuse and replace if blown. Use the test deck lead to check communication with CTD. This bypasses the winch and sea cable. Q.4 If all above appear ok you may have a water sampler connection issue. Contact the Technician. The SBE32 can be temporarily switched off in the Seasave software. If communications works after disabling the SBE32 you have a faulty SBE32 to 9Plus cable. Replace cable, clean and re-grease connectors and enable SBE32 in Seasave. Q.5 The Pump will not come in on Seasave. A.5 Check the syringe was removed before deployment. Check the TC is plumbed correctly as per Application note 64-1. Incorrect plumbing will cause air lock. For pump protection the system will not switch on pump if conductivity reading is low. Fresh water or air will give the low reading and inhibit pump. Q.6 The data is noisy on some of the data channels. A.6 Figure out which specific channel is noisy. If it s just one or two of the analogue ports check the connectors at both ends of respective sensor harness, clean and re-grease. If it s a noisy Temp or salinity plot the data can be replayed to show which sensor is causing problem. Replay the raw Temp and Cond for primary and secondary channels. You may see that only one T or C channels is noisy. Check this harness cable, clean and re-grease. [if you see any figures other
than zero in the Modulo Error Count display box this can indicate problem with sea cable. Contact Technician so they can investigate. 6.0 Training Information & Videos: Seabird have a full library of training documents available on their website which covers their 4 day course. There are also some video tutorial s. There are application notes for specific sensors and instruments that cover installation maintenance and user calibrations. Training Documents: http://www.seabird.com/training Application Notes: http://www.seabird.com/application-notes Maintenance Videos: http://www.seabird.com/maintenance-videos
CTD Deployment\Recovery Procedure 1. Before arriving on station check that the correct.xmlcon file is loaded. (Note: A sub folder, Master_Con_File within your data folder will contain the xmlcon files for your survey. Only vessel Technician should modify xmlcon file. If in doubt about xmlcon file please request Technician to verify it is correct.) DECK CHECKS 2. Verify that syringes and tygon tubing have been removed from Primary and Secondary TC-ducts. If using auxiliary sensors remove covers from them also. Clean the lens on the Transmissometer with lint free wipes. 3. Check all bottle drain bungs and air vents are closed and bottles are cocked/open. The crew usually cock bottles and remove TC-Duct but it is responsibility of scientist on watch to ensure CTD Rosette is ready for deployment. (Closed bottles will implode at depth. Note: They are very expensive). Also ensure a rope passes through the handles of all CTD bottles, this reduces risk of losing a bottle. DRYLAB OPERATION 4. Turn on the deck unit (grey box) at bottom of the Instrument Rack. 5. Ensure you have a charged radio for duration of each CTD station. 6. When on station check depth on echo sounder. Set-up Seasave graphics display for appropriate depth. Call bridge on radio and verify depth on Dry Lab sounder matches Echo Sounder on bridge. 7. Confirm with winch operator the depth CTD is to be deployed to.
8. When winch operator is ready to deploy CTD power up CTD deck unit and verity RED LED display is showing a number in the region of 5000 33000. If it displays all zeros call technician and abort CTD cast. 9. Winch operator will deploy CTD just below surface. On SeasaveWin32 software verify that pump has switched on. This takes approximately one minute. Winch operator will stand by and wait for your command to lower CTD. PC Operation 10. Open Seasave; icon on desktop or from the Start menu/programs/sea- Bird/Seasave. The following screen comes up: 11. Changing the plot setup (if necessary). If you suspect that the next station will fall outside the range depth, or need to change anything else in the plot rightclick in the 1:3 (plot) window. N.b. if you do this after start, while the plot is being drawn, all that was plotted before will disappear. No data is lost but you won t see it on the screen.
Click OK. You can do the same for all the data windows. START AQUIRING DATA 12. Go to RealtimeData, Start Acquisition. A window opens: Click START 13. Instruct winch operator to deploy CTD to required depth after pump has switched on. If pay out speed of less than 1 m/sec is required notify winch operator and system can be programmed as required. 14. A reasonable offset of 10 meters from sea floor in less than 100 meters depth of water should be maintained. In greater depths use a larger offset of 50
meters. If smaller offset is required contact technician and bottom contact switch or altimeter can be installed. 15. Winch operator will inform you when CTD has been deployed to requested depth. CTD can be paid out further if required while maintaining safe offset from sea floor. (Note: Monitor depth on Fixed Scroll Display closely when approaching the bottom.) 16. Click on Select Output Data file Name to change name of the station number/name for each CTD dive. No need to change CON File, just Enter Output Data File Name, fill in a suitable file name. Then click Start.
17. Another window opens, where you can fill in the information that you want in the header of the output file totally optional, can be left blank. 18. When you click OK in this window, data collection will begin (do this when the deck operators have given you the command they are ready to deploy).
19. Instruct the deck operator by radio to place the CTD into approx 2-5 meters of water and wait for the Pump Status to go ON. This period of time maybe 1-4 minutes. NOTE: In the beginning, pumps will be OFF. Wait with the CTD just below the surface until the pumps are ON. If they don t turn on automatically after a couple of minutes, let the CTD go down a couple of metres more, as the water pressure switches the pump on. If the pumps still haven t come on after approximately 4 minutes, then exit Seasave software and say YES to save the paramters. Open the Seasave software and repeat from step 3. Remember if you have restarted the software, you will be rewriting the same station/dive id, as it maybe the same dive attempt.
CTD Dive 20. CTD is lowered down (to 5-10m, or whatever you consider safe/necessary, above the seabed). The depth MUST be watched all times on the downcast incase it stops before the allocated depth to the deck operator. 21. Bottle Collect: If you wish to take water samples inform winch operator various depths and they will program winch accordingly. On the way up, you can choose to close bottles in a window opened, which shows you a button Fire Bottle. To close a bottle click Fire Bottle
22. The rosette always starts at first position and as you press the fire button it increments to the next bottle to fire. There is a Bottles Fired box that indicates which number has been closed. 23. After CTD has been recovered back on deck rinse down with fresh water between stations if not being used for extended periods. Flush TC-duct as per CTD Recovery Procedure which is displayed near the CTD on deck. 24. If CTD is not being used for extended periods uncock all bottles as UV degrades bottle elastics. Flush TC-duct with fresh water and then air and place Tygon end to end on TC-duct END OF DIVE 25. Finished? when the CTD is exiting out of the water, go to RealtimeData and select Stop Acquisition. The file is automatically saved to the location you selected earlier. 26. Switch off the deck unit. 27. If you wish to exit the Seasave software. When you exit Seasave, the following will happen: 28. Doesn t really matter, if you want to change the settings you choose in this session pick Yes and save either as a new file or overwrite the old one. 29. Once water samples have been taken from CTD bottles the entire rosette should be washed down with fresh water, Pay particular attention to the bottle firing mechanism. See below for specific instructions for flushing of the TC sets. CTD TC\DO Flushing & Storage
1. There are two TC sets, a Primary TC set with a SBE43 DO plumed in series and on the opposite side there is a Secondary TC set. Both should be flushed with dilute bleach or fresh water when they come back on deck using a syringe and Tygon tubing. (Refer to Application Note 2D for TC cleaning procedure) 2. The Secondary TC Duct can be stored wet as per Photo # 1. If there are freezing conditions the Secondary TC set should be drained and stored as per Photo # 2. Blow out any residual water. Photo # 1 Photo # 2 3. When the Primary TC has been flushed with fresh water it should be allowed to drain and stored as per Photo # 3. There is a small piece of blue sponge which should be moist on the DO side. This storage method covers freezing conditions too. In freezing conditions insert the tygon tubing onto pump first and then blow out any residual water in the TC before closing loop. Photo # 3 Blue Sponge. 4. When inserting the syringe onto TC Duct do not push tygon tube onto TC duct too far as it will be more difficult to remove. Photo # 4 is pushed on just enough, Photo # 5 is too far and will be difficult to get off. Photo # 4 Photo # 5
Troubleshooting: Q.1 The PC times out and no connection is made to CTD. A.1 Is the deck unit switched on? Check to see if two sessions of seasave are open. Reboot the PC, this will refresh any locked up serial ports that connect PC to Deck Unit\CTD. Q. 2 Items in A.1 have not fixed problem. I still cannot connect to the PC. A.2 Place thumbwheel of deck unit in position 0,1 or 2(0=Temperature, 1=Conductivity, 2=Pressure). If the Word Display on deck unit is 00000 then the sensor may be defective. Swap with a spare and see if you get a sensible number. Q.3 If you still have no communication with the CTD there may be a problem with sea cable. A.3 Check sea cable fuse and replace if blown. Use the test deck lead to check communication with CTD. This bypasses the winch and sea cable. Q.4 If all above appear ok you may have a water sampler connection issue. Contact the Technician. The SBE32 can be temporarily switched off in the Seasave software. If communications works after disabling the SBE32 you have a faulty SBE32 to 9Plus cable. Replace cable, clean and re-grease connectors and enable SBE32 in Seasave. Q.5 The Pump will not come in on Seasave. A.5 Check the syringe was removed before deployment. Check the TC is plumbed correctly as per Application note 64-1. Incorrect plumbing will cause air lock. For pump protection the system will not switch on pump if conductivity reading is low. Fresh water or air will give the low reading and inhibit pump. Q.6 The data is noisy on some of the data channels. A.6 Figure out which specific channel is noisy. If it s just one or two of the analogue ports check the connectors at both ends of respective sensor harness, clean and regrease. If it s a noisy Temp or salinity plot the data can be replayed to show which sensor is causing problem. Replay the raw Temp and Cond for primary and secondary channels. You may see that only one T or C channels is noisy. Check this harness cable, clean and re-grease. [if you see any figures other than zero in the Modulo Error Count display box this can indicate problem with sea cable. Contact Technician so they can investigate.