Floats

One of the best parts about being out here is hearing from our shore-side partners! And I do mean partners! Before setting out on this adventure, Climate Central teamed up with eight science teachers from six different schools...and most importantly, their students. Each of the science classrooms is using the SOCCOM floats to study earth science and how the climate is changing, and we couldn't be prouder of them! But this relationship is symbiotic! They use our data, but they help us too! How? By adopting the floats! Through the "Adopt-A-Float" program, SOCCOM is allowing elementary, middle and high school students take ownership and participate in the science. Now that we've deployed the last float, each of our floats has been named by the students, and each of them is successfully collecting data. Here are the names the students chose and where their floats were deployed: Float Number Release Deployment Location School

I’ve gotten a few questions about how the floats work, and now’s as good a time as any to answer them! How does the float control its depth in the water?  Inside the float, near the base, there’s a bladder containing oil—mineral oil to be exact. The bladder has a pump that can either inflate the bladder or deflate it. Since we can’t change the mass, all we can do is change the volume. When the float needs to descend, the oil is compressed, using the pump. That increases the density, and the float sinks. When the float needs to rise, the pump releases pressure, and the density decreases, allowing the float to rise. This of course all means that the float itself has to have a very specific mass. How long does the float “live”? Technically, a SOCCOM float has enough battery life to take 268 profiles in the Southern Ocean. If we take a profile every 10 days. That gives us over over 7 years of data! Battery life isn’t the only thing that matters though. During the winters, the float is espe

By now, you know that these SOCCOM floats open incredible windows into a vitally important part of our climate system, the Southern Ocean, but how exactly do they do that? Let’s take a look. First off, there are the sensors. Here’s a photo of the top of one of the floats with the sensors labeled. To start, take a look at the temperature and salinity sensor. That’s the black tower that has the tall holes in it. Salinity is measured by measuring the water’s conductivity. If the water has higher conductivity, that means there are more ions in the water, which means a higher salinity. If you know the temperature and pressure, you can calculate an exact number for the salinity of the water from this device. The temperature probe is actually called a “thermistor” not a thermometer. The traditional mechanics of a thermometer use mercury, but a thermistor is actually a resistor (a metal, ceramic or polymer) whose resistance changes very precisely with temperature. Put thermo- and resistor toge

As we approached, the British base, Rothera , we got our first taste of ice-breaking. It was thin sheet ice that stood between us and the Brits, the kind that took only a bit of pressure break. A long dark crack shot down the ice in front of us. It widened quickly as we sailed forward. The wind is fierce. I and a few of the scientists, including Stephen Riser, stood at the bow of the ship. Our hats, hoods, mittens, and heavy coats were doing their best to protect us from the chilling wind that came straight to our faces and made our eyes tear up. Every few minutes, we'd pass a pair of seals lying on the pancaked ice. They'd awaken from their peaceful nap in the summer sun, look up at us lazily and gave us a chiding roar. We couldn't really hear them over the sound of ice sloshing against our bow and the loud hum of the ship. Rothera is the largest British Antarctic Survey base. There's an island just west of the Antarctic Peninsula mainland called Adelaide, and Rothera