Salinometer Delivery

RBR has delivered a MS-310 micro-salinometer to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Hobart, Australia via its agent Metocean Services International. Precision measurement of ocean physics is critical to understanding how the coastal marine environment or deep ocean is changing over short, medium or longer-term time-scales. Any inaccuracies in measurement impact the scientific outcomes and therefore accurate calibration is critical. The MS-310 joins the other equipment at the extensive calibration facility at CSIRO, where they not only calibrate their own oceanographic instrumentation, but offer the service for a range of clients including state research agencies, water authorities and the Australian Antarctic Division.

Speaking from the calibration facility in Hobart, Facility Manager Mark Underwood commented "We are proposing to incorporate the MS-310 into a CTD calibration system. Our aim is to further automate our CTD calibration process, utilising the ratiometric properties of the MS-310 to achieve this and measure salinity in real time".

The MS-310 achieves an accuracy of ±0.002 PSU and uses sample volumes of less than 20 ml. The consumption of expensive standard seawater is greatly reduced through a standardization technique which allows the standard sample to be reused for many measurements. The innovative dual cell approach removes the need for highly stable bath temperatures since both cells are surrounded by a well stirred oil bath to ensure thermal uniformity. This ensures that sample properties needn't be changed by warming to match the salinometer, making it ideally suited to CSIRO's requirement to calibrate over a range of temperature.

The popularity of the MS-310 is growing with recent orders in Europe, Australia, Middle East and Asia. RBR's MS-310 provides oceanographers with a reliable shipboard and laboratory method to verify the performance of sophisticated modern CTD instruments.