Brooke Ocean Technology Limited is pleased to announce the sale of a MOVING VESSEL PROFILER (MVP™) 300-1700 to the Plymouth Marine Laboratory in the UK through BOT's European representative The MacArtney Group. This purchase originated from funding awarded to the University of East Anglia by the UK Natural Environment Research Councils’ JIF (Joint Infrastructure Funding) initiative.

The system will be utilized on various NERC vessels. Following technical and scientific training at Brooke Ocean's Facility in June, the intention is to deploy the MVP™ on the RRS Charles Darwin in the Indian Ocean for a cruise forming part of the UK's Marine and Freshwater Microbial Biodiversity (MFMB) programme. This will comprise of a series of scientific stations to be occupied from the Seychelles to Oman and the MVP™ will be deployed on the long transects between the daily stations and also for repeated profiles whilst the ship is stationary.

The MVP300™ system is capable of reaching 300 m at 12 knots and 850 m at 5 knots and will be used to collect CTD, fluorometer and dissolved oxygen profiles while underway at speeds up to 11 knots. This ability to collect underway data will make the survey operation more efficient and improve data quality.

Malcolm Woodward, a Marine Chemist at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK, has particular responsibility for this MVP™ purchase and is part of the team responsible for acquiring the funding. This MVP™ will be the first in the UK and will be part of the National Marine Equipment Pool based at Southampton.

It is intended that this MVP™ will become a new integral part of the AMT (Atlantic Meridional Transect) cruise program which has already had 11 successful Atlantic transects on-board the RRS James Clark Ross between the UK and The Falklands, with six more being planned from 2002. It is intended to have a fast acting nutrient sensor and upwelling and downwelling light sensors fitted in the future to increase the data gained during these transect cruises.

The MVP™ is an underway CTD or sound velocity profiling system which permits near vertical data profiles to be collected with the use of a recoverable free fall fish. The system includes a computer-controlled smart winch and deployment system that permits the free fall fish to be deployed while the vessel is underway. MVP™ is completely automated, can be operated by computer without the requirement for personnel on deck and can provide real time sound velocity input into a multi-beam sounder.

The free fall fish can also be equipped with a variety of sensors, including a sound velocity probe, fluorometer and plankton counter. For multibeam surveys, MVP™ saves a minimum of 3 hours per day of ship time by eliminating the requirement to stop and complete a static cast. Significant savings in multibeam data processing can be realized through improved data quality.