Benthic landers are autonomous observational platforms that sit on the seabed or benthic zone to record physical, chemical, or biological activity.[1]
Benthic landers have deployment durations from a few days (for biological studies) to several years (for physical oceanography studies). In these studies they conduct a variety of underwater measurements, and thus different lander configurations exist to better meet differing levels of precision for different measurements.
Purpose
editSamples that are brought up from the seabed undergo large changes in temperature and pressure, thus changing their physical and chemical composition and properties.[2] This change in properties means that any measurements taken from samples brought to the surface do not provide accurate data.[2] In order to avoid this, it is best that the measurements are taken directly at the seabed level, without moving the samples. Initially, to try and prevent altered samples, divers would go to the sea bed and carry out the experiments.[2] However, divers have a very small range of depth, short time under water, and cause a large disturbance to the sea bed, therefore introducing more error into the measurements.[2] These short comings are improved by using benthic landers as they have a much larger depth and time capacity than divers, and can be designed to cause minimal disturbance to the sea floor.[2] Some common uses for the collected seabed data include studying currents, tides, microseismic activity, magnetic field activity, and monitoring marine life.[2]
Lander Variation
editBenthic landers come in a variety of shapes and sizes depending upon the instrumentation they carry, and are typically capable of working at any ocean depth.[3] One type of instrumentation that is often utilized on benthic landers is an eddy correlation instrument that measures oxygen flux.[2] Different types of landers are used depending on the length and nature of the mission. Longer duration mission landers are typically equipped with ultrasonic sensors, LiDAR, and cameras in order to intelligently navigate the seabed.[3] Additionally, depending on what measurements the mission is intended to take, the lander can be configured to disrupt the environment in different ways enabling for higher precision of certain data sets at the tradeoff of others.[3] New technologies are constantly being developed to improve lander data collection, one example being holography, which is meant to be utilized to take measurements of the seabed far from where the lander is.[3]
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ Freiwald, André (2005-05-20). Cold-Water Corals and Ecosystems. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-3-540-24136-2.
- ^ a b c d e f g Tengberg, A.; De Bovee, F.; Hall, P.; Berelson, W.; Chadwick, D.; Ciceri, G.; Crassous, P.; Devol, A.; Emerson, S.; Gage, J.; Glud, R.; Graziottini, F.; Gundersen, J.; Hammond, D.; Helder, W. (January 1995). "Benthic chamber and profiling landers in oceanography — A review of design, technical solutions and functioning". Progress in Oceanography. 35 (3): 253–294. doi:10.1016/0079-6611(95)00009-6. ISSN 0079-6611.
- ^ a b c d Viollier, E; Rabouille, C; Apitz, S.E; Breuer, E; Chaillou, G; Dedieu, K; Furukawa, Y; Grenz, C; Hall, P; Janssen, F; Morford, J.L; Poggiale, J.-C; Roberts, S; Shimmield, T; Taillefert, M (February 2003). "Benthic biogeochemistry: state of the art technologies and guidelines for the future of in situ survey". Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 285–286: 5–31. doi:10.1016/s0022-0981(02)00517-8. ISSN 0022-0981.
 | This oceanography article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This is a user sandbox of P7r7m. You can use it for testing or practicing edits. This is not the sandbox where you should draft your assigned article for a dashboard.wikiedu.org course. To find the right sandbox for your assignment, visit your Dashboard course page and follow the Sandbox Draft link for your assigned article in the My Articles section. |
Article Evaluation
editEvaluating content.
editEverything in the article is relevant to the article topic. Nothing distracted me. No information references incorrect dates or is out of date. Things that were missing that could be added are what types sensors the landers have, how they are controlled, who deploys them, and the history of their inception. Something else that could be improved is the addition of more visuals. There is little to no scientific information, but the provided information is clear and accurate. The article does link to other Wikipedia articles that are related topics.
Evaluating tone.
editThe article is neutral with no biased claims or over/underrepresented viewpoints.
Evaluating sources.
editThe citation links do work, and support the claims in the article. Each fact is referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference. The information comes from a published scientific journal, and from the main site of a company that manufactures the landers. These sources are neutral, thus no bias needs to be noted.
Evaluating talk page.
editNo conversations are on the talk page. The article is rated as a stub. It is part of the Limnology and Oceanography WikiProject, as well as the Oceans, and Marine life WikiProjects.