A novel high resolution optical instrument for imaging oceanic bubbles

The formation of bubbles from breaking waves has a significant effect on air–sea gas transfer and aerosol production. Detailed data in situ about the bubble populations are required to understand these processes. However, these data are difficult to acquire because bubble populations are complex, sp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering
Main Authors: Al-Lashi, Raied Sarmad, Gunn, Stephen R., Webb, Eric G., Czerski, Helen
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/407604/
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/407604/1/A_Novel_High_Resolution_Optical_Instrument2.pdf
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/407604/2/07859278.pdf
Description
Summary:The formation of bubbles from breaking waves has a significant effect on air–sea gas transfer and aerosol production. Detailed data in situ about the bubble populations are required to understand these processes. However, these data are difficult to acquire because bubble populations are complex, spatially inhomogeneous, and short lived. This paper describes the design and development of a novel high-resolution underwater optical instrument for imaging oceanic bubbles at the sea. The instrument was successfully deployed in 2013 as part of the HiWINGS campaign in the North Atlantic Ocean. It contains a high-resolution machine vision camera, strobe flash unit to create a light sheet, and single board computer to control system operation. The instrument is shown to successfully detect bubbles of radii in the range 20–10 000 μm.