- Monday, June 24, 2024
United Electronic Industries’ rugged data acquisition solutions ensured reliable data collection during the Sea Ice Dynamics Experiment
The Background
Advancing science in the arctic
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is an independent non-profit in Massachusetts, USA, dedicated to ocean research, exploration, and education. The WHOI’s team of scientists and engineers are committed to studying the ocean and all its facets, including sea ice. To further this mission, the WHOI – in partnership with several other universities and research organizations – participated in the Sea Ice Dynamics Experiment (SIDEx).
Sea ice plays a crucial role in Earth's climate system, affecting global ocean circulation, weather patterns, and ecosystems. SIDEx was a field campaign that took place in the Beaufort Sea off the coast of Alaska in 2021, investigating sea ice cracking events to better predict how they are affected by the atmosphere and sea levels. Understanding the mechanics of sea ice is essential for predicting its future behavior and understanding the broader impacts of climate change.
As part of SIDEx, the WHOI researchers developed a cabled data acquisition (DAQ) system that would collect seismo-acoustic measurements to better understand sea ice strength and behavior.
SIDEx took place in the Beaufort Sea, a section of the Arctic Ocean that is covered in sea ice for most of the year The Challenge
Withstanding extreme conditions
WHOI’s DAQ system needed to be lightweight and compact but robust, able to receive and securely store inputs from multiple sources. These included 18 hydrophones, microphones designed for recording or listening to underwater sound, and four geophones, which sat above water and converted ground movement into voltage.
Weather was also a challenge. The expedition was located at Camp Seadragon, a temporary settlement located on a sheet of ice in the Arctic Ocean. The researchers needed hardware that could withstand the extreme weather of the Arctic circle.
United Electronic Industries (UEI) is a leading provider of data acquisition and controls solutions. UEI’s products are designed to be compact and rugged, ideally suited for a wide variety of industrial, energy, laboratory, and many other applications. Additionally, UEI’s selection of compatible supplementary components offers customers plenty of choice to fit their needs.
WHOI researchers turned to UEI for the hardware needed that could withstand sub-zero temperatures and reliably collect data.
Sea ice plays a crucial role in Earth's climate system, affecting global ocean circulation, weather patterns, and ecosystems The Solution
Innovative solutions produce informative data
UEI provided two standalone COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) UEIPAC Cubes. Able to withstand temperatures of -85 degrees Celsius, and only weighing two pounds each, the cubes proved to be a match for the frigid, unwelcoming conditions of the SIDEx project.
The cubes, standardized to work well with a variety of data analysis software, are able to collect and store inputs from both seismic and acoustic sensors at an affordable cost compared to a more customized option.
Thanks to UEI’s rugged hardware, the team was able to collect data that could potentially help understand the effects of climate change on sea ice, predict ice cracking events, and improve navigation maps for ships in the Arctic circle.
Ice and snow at the mouth of the Sag River emptying into Prudhoe Bay off the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean 
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