The Centre for Water Research have a long history of developing and using state-of-the-art instrument technology in natural aquatic systems. The Lake Diagnostic System (LDS) for long-term reservoir water quality monitoring, and the SCAMP (Self-Contained Autonomous Microstructure Profiler) for turbulence measurements, were both developed at CWR.
CWR and Global Water Monitoring have recently partnered to develop the revolutionary 'snap-on / snap-off’ sensor technology that will be employed on all future LDS installations.
The new sensor technology features individually moulded nodes on to which sensors (thermistors) are 'snapped-on’ and secured. The sensors and nodes are housed in a precision moulded ployeurthane casing and like the existing thermistor chains, sensor spacing and depth can be designed to meet the customer’s requirements.
This new and exciting technolgoy is set to dramatically reduce operational downtime and maintenance costs for all existing and future Lake Diagnostic Systems.
The Centre for Water Research has close to 30 years experience installing in-situ instrumentation and conducting intensive field measurements in lakes, reservoirs, estuaries and coastal seas throughout the world. We develop and deploy a range of instruments capable of undertaking measurements over a broad range of temporal and spatial scales.
Key benefits of CWR technologies
CWR’s integrated approach to measurement, modelling and analysis and our up-to-date scientific knowledge provides:
• Comprehensive understanding of water body dynamics quality and, and the capability to forecast potential supply and quality problems;
• Optimisation of water treatment costs;
• Best-practice management of pollution in water bodies;
• Reduced infrastructure costs;
• Improved stakeholder access to water quality information in real-time; and
• Educational tools for water resource professionals, managers, students, and public.
The LDS provides very accurate measurements for water column temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, chlorophyll-a and above water meteorology. Data is transmitted to a shore station via GSM or Satellite telephone link and from there is routed to a server for display online in real-time. A key feature of the LDS is the fast response and high-resolution thermistor chain making it useful for inferring properties of the turbulent field.
Lake Diagnostic Systems are suitable for installation in enclosed water bodies as well as coastal embayments, estuarine and lagoon ecosystems. In both Australia and internationally, Lake Diagnostic Systems are installed in lakes, estuarine systems and potable water supply reservoirs and play an important role in the management of public water resources. The LDS is sold by Global Water Monitoring .
The Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) is used to make short term intense or long time series measurements of current velocities throughout the water column or at specific depths only, depending on the instrument and application. CWR uses a Sontek ADCP 1500kHz unit with two possible modes - incoherent (maximum range ~ 25m) and pulse-coherent (maximum range > 12m).
The BBE Fluroprobe is a submersible spectroflurometer for chlorophyll analysis and integrated algae class determination. The Fluoroprobe can detect spectra due to different for blue-green algae, green algae, brown algae, cryptophytae and Yellow substances (DOC).
The Fine Scale Profiler is used to make fast measurements of spatially and temporarily varying water quality, useful for characterizing background water quality over time or for detecting transport of tracers during events, such as inflow events. The probe measures temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, chlorophyll-a (or rhodamine) and depth. The probe samples at 50 Hz and falls at approximately 0.5 m/s, giving around 1.0 cm resolution in the vertical. The data is acquired in real time via an umbilical cable, along with the GPS of the profile. The BBE Fluoroprobe can also be attached to measure concentration of four algal groups and DOC (yellow substance).
The Microstructure Profiler is used to characterize turbulence and mixing in the water body. It is a highly portable instrument measuring temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, chl-a, turbidity, PAR and depth at micro-scale resolution (1mm). This instrument has been commercialised into the SCAMP (Self-Contained Autonomous Microstructure Profiler) and is sold by Precision Measurement Engineering (PME).
The Portable Flux Profiler is used to directly measure turbulent fluxes and other turbulent parameters. Uses a three-axis laser doppler anemometer to measure water velocities in all three directions and also measures conductivity, temperature and depth at the micro-scale (1mm).
