Omnicam with Lights

In preparation for our June 7, 2011 cruise we are testing Omnicam with some high-power LED lights. The video below shows the system recording HD video at 30 FPS with the blue and green lights is it is being lowed to the bottom of the Keck tank at night. The lights were so bright that they illuminated the entire tank. Although not shown in the video, the lights are in fact flashing at 30 Hz in sync with the cameras.

Control Volume Grazing in Coastal Ecosystems

The Jaffe Lab is collaborating with Dr. Stephen Monismith from Stanford University and Dr. Amatzia Genin from the Interuniversity Institute of Marine Science to study Flow and Grazing on Coral and Temperate Rocky Reefs as part of the Control Volume Grazing in Coastal Ecosystems research project. As part of the study, two of our broadband acoustic and optical zooplankton imaging systems are being deployed to estimate zooplankton abundance upstream and downstream in a flow field.

 

For more information about the program visit the Control Volume Grazing in Coastal Ecosystems website.

For more information about our sonar systems see ZOOPS

LUMIS2 Fluorescence Images

After a series of successful deployments both on SCUBA during the day and snorkeling during the day and night, LUMIS2 has captured some very compelling images of coral and algae fluorescence. Below is a set of frames from our most recent nighttime snorkeling ops. In the left column are the fluorescence frames taken with the blue strobes on LUMIS2 and the right column are the matching white strobe light frames of the same subject taken 50ms later. Each “frame” consists of four separate images arranged as follows:

(Green 510-530)  (Color no filter)

(Red 665-695)     (Orange 568-588)

Note that these images are “raw” uncorrected and that the Orange filter image has twice the gain of the Green and Red images.

Dr. Jules Jaffe’s photonic tools explore the secrets of the ocean

Dr. Jaffe is featured in the SPIE remote sensing newsroom. Check out the video interview: Watch Jules Jaffe video and the article in the SPIE newsroom: Jules Jaffe’s photonic tools explore the secrets of the ocean.

Links:

SPIE Newsroom

Video: Jules Jaffe’s photonic tools explore the secrets of the ocean

AUE GPS communication successfully tested at SIO Pier

We made a big step forward in the past weeks with a successful test of the GPS system that is to be used on the Mini-AUEs. The system uses the Global Star Network to transmit the location of the vehicle to a remote server. This information can then notify researchers that the vehicle has returned to the surface and give its precise location to aid in recovery.

The Global Star network has significant advantages over other networks due to much lower cost (single transmission costs are on the order of $0.15) and its widespread use.  However, adapting the RF electronics to work while bobbing around at the ocean surface was a non-trival task. The positive results of this test make us optimistic that the Global Star system will provide a reliable solution to location and recovering these autonomous underwater explorers.

The figure below shows GPS fixes sent from the vehicle over the Global Star network. The upper left corner shows a view of the vehicle in the water.

For more information about the AUE project check out the Autonomous Underwater Explorer Page.

GlobalStarSIOPierTest
Results from the Global Star test off SIO Pier

 

MAZOOPS goes out to sea with the Cal-Echoes Cruise

Graduate students Christian Briseno and Lina Lawrence took the second version of our zooplaknton imaging sonar (MAZOOPS) out on the R/V Melville as part of the Cal-Echoes Research Program. This version of MAZOOPS provides high-resolution (~30 micron) optical images and high-frequency, broadband acoustic data from zooplankton. The system willl be used in concert with many other sampling modalities to study the animals in the water column of the Santa Barbara Basin. For more information about the research program go to: http://calechoes.ucsd.edu

24hr MAZOOPS cruise

MAZOOPS 2 set sail for a 24 hr cruise out in the Pacific Ocean on 8/31/2010. Among other design changes, MAZOOPS 1 was updated from using two transmitting and receiving transducers and six receiving transducers to using four transmitting and receiving transducers.  MAZOOPS 2 is a duplicate of MAZOOPS 1 after its updates. The main purpose of this cruise is to test the new design of the system and prepare it for the cruise in the Santa Barbara Basin in late September 2010 and the Gulf of Eilat early 2011. The cruise was a great success. We acquired lots of interesting data and videos of organisms from the surface of the ocean down to 500m below sea surface.

Here are some action pictures of the deployment as well as a video of the dolphins we saw early morning:

OmniCam arrival in Guaymas, Mexico

Fernando Simonet (pictured below) and Eddie Kisfaludy flew Omnicam (packed in the large brown box) down to Guaymas, Mexico on Tuesday where it was loaded on to the R/V New Horizon for a 10 day cruise in the Sea of Cortez. The Omnicam will be deployed several times daily in concert with several other systems investigating the underwater light field and squid camoflauge.

Arrival2