Seahorse Moored Profiler

Wave energy has been harnessed to power an oceanographic instrument that is first in its class. The Seahorse is capable of high-frequency, extended profiling of water properties. Constant human supervision at the oceanographic station is not necessary since the instrument is anchored to the seafloor and is left to collect samples on its own. Shiptime is only needed for the deployment and the recovery.

The moored profiler was invented by George Fowler of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography and developed into a working prototype by the Ocean Physics staff of the Ocean Sciences Division at the institute. This innovative monitoring device has been patented by the Crown and is currently being manufactured, under license from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, by Brooke Ocean Technology, Ltd. of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Development of the instrument was funded by the Canadian Panel on Energy Research and Development (PERD).

The Seahorse profiler uses wave energy and a one-way clamp to climb down a mooring line. Once at the bottom, it waits for a user-defined time when the clamp opens and the buoyant device floats up the line. While it rises it simultaneously records data. Sensors can record CTD values, turbidity, and chlorophyll concentration.

• 1999 Bedford Basin deployment
• Brooke-Ocean web page with bi-hourly Seahorse profiles collected on the Scotian Shelf (station 2 in 2000)
• Realtime data pilot project

• Fowler, G. A., J. M. Hamilton, B. D. Beanlands, and A. R. Furlong, 1997. "A Wave-Powered Profiler for Long-Term Monitoring", in Oceans'97 MTS/IEEE Conference Proceedings, pp. 225-228
• Petrie, B., B. J. Topliss, and D. G. Wright, 1987. "Coastal Upwelling and Eddy Development off Nova Scotia", J. Geophys. Res., 29, 12979 - 12991.

• Brooke Ocean Technology, Limited Dartmouth, N. S.
• Bedford Basin Plankton Monitoring Program Bedford Institute of Oceanography
• Icycler Ocean Sciences Division, Bedford Institute of Oceanography

• Jim Hamilton, Ocean Sciences Division, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, N. S.
• George Fowler, Ocean Sciences Division, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, N. S.