Deployment of an Argo float from a ship.

Hi-tech ocean observing

Whether it's learning about the daily behaviour of tuna or the changing circulation patterns of an entire ocean basin, marine observing technologies are essential for understanding our marine environment.

• 1 July 2008 | Updated 14 October 2011

Background

CSIRO’s marine scientists use an impressive array of sensitive and innovative equipment, deployed in some of the world’s most hostile environments, to deliver high-quality ocean data.

The information is used to understand and monitor ocean currents and habitats, to determine the ocean’s role in climate, and even follow the journeys of fish and sharks in order to provide information for the sustainable management of fish stocks.

CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research has a long history of developing practical solutions to the unique problems associated with data gathering at or in the sea, with much of the technology used by scientists developed or refined in-house.

These include:

• towed deep-water devices that relay quantitative digital video of the seafloor in real time
• self-contained acoustic devices which are deployed from fishing boats to differentiate between fish species for stock assessments
• Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) to survey the depths like small robotic submarines
• winged gliders which take the temperature of the sea, along with other information, providing valuable information on our oceans’ health and their role in determining climate.

Specific details are on subsequent pages for:

• Towed acoustic body systems
• The drop acoustic system
• Towed camera systems
• Towed undulating vehicle
• Ocean glider
• Oceanographic moorings
• ARGO floats
• Swath mapping
• Expendable Bathythermographs (XBTs)
• Devil Expendable Bathythermographs (XBT) acquisition system
• Tag technology
• Calibrations laboratory
• Starbug Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV)
• Benthic respiration remote deployed laboratories.