Search

An increasing number of underwater gliders have been applied to lake monitoring. Lakes have a limited vertical space. Therefore, good space-saving capacity is required for underwater gliders to enlarge the spacing between monitoring waypoints. This paper presents a space-saving steering method under a small pitch angle (SPA) for appearance-fixed underwater gliders. Steering under an SPA increases the steering angle in per unit vertical space. An amended hydrodynamic model for both small and large attack angles is presented to help analyze the steering process. Analysis is conducted to find the optimal parameters of net buoyancy and roll angle for steering under an SPA. A lake trial with a prototype tiny underwater glider (TUG) is conducted to inspect the applicability of the presented model. The trial results show that steering under an SPA saves vertical space, unlike that under a large pitch angle. Simulation results of steering are consistent with the trial results. In addition, multiple-waypoint trial shows that monitoring with steering under an SPA covers a larger horizontal displacement than that without steering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the design, construction and preliminary test results for a gas-tight serial sampler intended to be deployed at seafloor for long-term operation to take time-series fluid samples from deep-sea environments such as cold seeps, water column and hydrothermal vents. The serial sampler is a modular system that is based on independent and identical sampling modules, which are designed to collect six 160 ml gas-tight fluid samples maintained at high pressure to a depth of 4000 meters. With two working modes, the sampler can be deployed either with seafloor cabled observatory for remote control or as a stand-alone device for autonomous operation. A prototype of the instrument has been constructed and tested on the MARS cabled observatory for two months. The laboratory and field tests proved the success of the design and construction of the serial sampler, and indicated the potential for future ocean sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Submarine hydrothermal vents occur over a wide depth range from a few meters to several thousands of meters. Most existing hydrothermal fluid samplers are focused on deep-sea environments and are not suited for collecting shallow-water fluids. In this study, a new gas-tight sampler which can be easily deployed by both submersibles and scuba divers to collect fluid samples from both deep-sea and shallow-water hydrothermal vents is presented. The proposed sampler uses an electric control sampling valve for fluid collection and a system to measure and display the temperature of the hydrothermal fluid while sampling. It is capable of working in manual mode to be controlled via external signals, or in automatic mode to collect a fluid sample according to the temperature. The master-slave architecture of the electronic system makes the sampler flexible in meeting many different deployment requirements. The performance of the sampler has been demonstrated by preliminary field tests at a shallow-water hydrothermal vent site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We assessed growth traits and wood properties of DH32-29, a clone of Eucalyptus urophylla × E. grandis, at age of two to six years in Guangdong in China. Analysis of variance of studied traits showed that there were significant differences (1% level) on all studied traits among ages except for wood basic density. Analysis of age trends of growth traits and wood properties revealed that rotation length of DH32-29 should be more than six years or longer. Phenotypic correlations among traits at individual ages indicated that correlations between growth traits were strongly positive. There was significant change in relationship between growth and wood basic density with increasing age, ranging from −0.03 to −0.54 at 2 and 5 year and 0.003 to 0.3 at 3, 4 and 6 year. Correlations between Pilodyn pin penetration and basic density measured on increment cores showed that Pilodyn could rank or group genotypes or sites into density classes, but failure to predict individual tree and individual clone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]