Development of a Time-selective Self-triggering Water Sampler and Its Application to In-situ Calibration of a Turbidity Sensor

Abstract

Seawater sampling is the primary task for the study of the marine environmental parameters that require shipboard or laboratory experiments for their analyses, and is also required for the calibration of some instruments for in situ measurement. A new automatic bottle (AUTTLE) is developed for seawater sampling at any desired time and water depth by self-triggering. Both any type of single or assembled mooring for 15 days and manual actuation by using a remote messenger as existing instantaneous single point water samplers are possible. Its sampling capacity and the resolution of time setting are 2 liters and 1 second, respectively. The result of a field experiment with an optical backscattering sensor (OBS) and a total of 14 AUTTLES for the in situ calibration of the OBS shows that the AUTTLE must improve our understanding on the behavior of the sand/mud mixtures in the environments with high waves and strong tides. The AUTTLE will serve as a valuable instrument in the various fields of oceanography, especially where synchronized seawater sampling at several sites is required and/or the information in storm period is important.