Refurbishing and Deploying Oceanographic Equipment

Author(s) Information

Matthew Moore, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis ObispoFollow

College - Author 1

College of Engineering

Department - Author 1

Mechanical Engineering Department

Advisor

Stefan Talke, College of Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department

Funding Source

Cal Poly's College of Engineering Dean's Innovation Fund, Paul & Sandi Bonderson, Kim Vorrath, and The Sprague Foundation

Acknowledgements

Serena Lee for her guidance and passion, Professor Talke for providing me this opportunity, Ian Robbins for a lender CCMS CTD cord CTD Testing in Morro Bay, My family for always supporting me

Date

10-2025

Abstract/Summary

In this SURP project, a student will help catalog, refurbish, test, and then deploy oceanographic equipment into Morro Bay and nearby coastal regions. In 2024, the Talke lab inherited approximately $300-400k of oceanographic equipment (sticker price) that was originally bought between 2000-2020. Instruments include multiple pressure gauges, velocity instruments, salinity-temperature-turbidity gauges, particle sizers, and a sonar for making bathymetric measurements. Help is needed to check (“talk to”) these instruments, determine which still work, and then field deploy them into the central coast., For some instruments, additional hardware (batteries, cables) and communication adapters may be needed. Because instrument software is often old, emulation of older operating systems or DOS may be required to establish communication. Testing will first take place in a lab, then in Morro Bay. Measurements will be post-processed using software such as Matlab and compared to independent measurements to make sure they are accurate. If these instruments can be made to work again, it greatly increases the ability of Cal-Poly to make physical oceanographic measurements in the coastal zone, both for teaching and research purposes. Desired qualifications include experience with instrumentation, field work, and computer programming, and a willingness to learn-by-doing, to come up with solutions, and to implement them.

October 1, 2025.