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Winched Profiler

Tom Sanford and Winched Profiler

CMOP is studying the characteristics of the salt wedge as it enters the North Channel of the Columbia River estuary. The strong flow and turbulence exhibited by the salt wedge is called the Estuarine Turbidity Maximum or ETM.

CMOP scientist and oceanographer Thomas Sanford (in photo) and his team from the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington developed a comprehensive winched profiler to observe the velocity, temperature, salinity, turbulence, and sediment content of the whole water column in the channel, especially in the ETM.

The Winch Profiler will help scientists understand the flow and mixing processes of the ETM and the observations will help improve the models for the Virtual Columbia River.

(Photo by Jesse Lopez/CMOP)