An ice-tethered buoy for fish and plankton research

Abstract

In this paper the authors present bio-acoustical icetethered platform for optical, physical and ecological sensors (POPE), i.e. an ice-tethered buoy, equipped with an AZFP scientific echosounder for fish and plankton research under the ice in the Arctic. The POPE enables remote transfer of large volume of environmental information using flying vehicles as data-mules. The presented prototype has been tested in a salt-water, open-air pool through the winter of 2017-2018, and the first Arctic deployment is planned for November 2018. This paper covers the design of the instrument, including details on its operation, and datacollection mechanism.