MHL: Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratory

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Last summer, in partnership with Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI) the MHL designed and fabricated two ALWAS (Automated Lagrangian Water-Quality Assessment System) buoys. The buoys have three propulsion modes, drift with current, sail and a radio controlled jet drive. Each buoy contains a sensor package for measuring temperature, conductivity, TDS, turbidity, pH, ORP, DO, nitrates, chlorophyll, and depth, as well as a GPS to record the time and location of each data point. The data collected is both stored on board as well as transmitted in real-time via a spread spectrum radio link. All ALWAS buoy data is instantly GIS compatible.

This spring in collaboration with the Bureau of Land Management, Department of Energy, ConocoPhillips and the North Slope Science Initiative the ALWAS buoys will be deployed in North Slope, Alaska. Three ALWAS buoys will be deployed; two ALWAS "Seniors" the original buoys designed for deployment in the North Slope last year, and one ALWAS "Junior" a smaller version designed and built this year. One of the ALWAS Seniors will be jet propelled, while both the second Senior and the Junior will be sail versions. The buoys will deployed by helicopter in various surface lakes near the Prudhoe Bay, at the same time the ALWAS is collecting data on the surface, the lakes will be profiled with a YSI sonde. The data collected will be used to investigate the salt water intrusion into these surface lakes.

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