Sea & Sun Technology’s MSS probes were in action during the largest Arctic expedition of all time with the German icebreaker POLARSTERN. The mission was led by the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). For more than a year, the POLARSTERN drifted frozen in the ice through the Arctic Ocean to collect scientific data. These data are intended to help researchers better understand climate change.
The MOSAiC measurement campaign used our microstructure probe as an essential tool for turbulence measurements in the water. In the course of the drift, measurements were carried out almost daily with an MSS probe to depths of approx. 350 m. With our MSS, mixing processes and the kinetic energy of water can be detected in centimeter- to millimeter-scale. The shear sensors measure changes in horizontal flow and the rapid thermistor records jump-like temperature changes. Together with measurements of acceleration, conductivity, and pressure, turbulence in the water can be detected. These turbulences are important because they determine changes in sea water temperature and the transport and spreading of biochemically important substances. Thus, our MSS probe is a technically sophisticated tool for studying the climate system and global climate change.
