VPR - Videoplanktonrecorder
The Video Plankton Recorder is a modern, optical sampling gear and like an underwater microscope that is towed behind a research vessel. The VPR images plankton and particles (the base of the food web) at up to 30 frames per second along the tow-track. At the same time this instrument measures the physical environment (e.g. temperature, salinity and chlorophyll) in which these organisms are living and interacting with. Traditionally, net sampling was used to understand the distribution of planktonic organisms. However, due to the fragile nature of many of these organisms they are often destroyed when using plankton nets to collect them. Using this optical method allows us to better assess the abundance and distribution of these fragile organisms and thereby gives new insights into plankton ecology and their role in the global carbon cycle.
Contact: Prof. Dr. Axel Temming
E-mail: atemming@uni-hamburg.de(atemming"AT"uni-hamburg.de)
Phone: +49 40 42838-6618