9504021 Miller Oregon State University will undertake an ocean sciences instrumentation development project to develop and test a new high-capacity, hoseless zooplankton collecting pump system for use at sea. The pumping system (to be named MEGAPUMP) is designed to address several shortcomings with existing pumping systems. The unit will consist of an underwater pump mounted on a carousel collection unit. The pump will be front mounted with a short manifold that serves 10 rotating filter collection tubes. A stepping motor will be used to "select" the next filter by remote actuation. The overall configuration will be mounted in a steel cage to prevent mechanical damage during deployment. Power supply to the MEGA will be via the suspension cable. Environmental sensors to be attached to the pump include a magnetic flow meter and a CTD for measuring conductivity, temperature and depth. The MEGA will facilitate zooplankton sampling with greater spatial resolution and depth capacity than previous systems. The samples obtained using this system will allow for a greater understanding of microstructure aggregation of zooplankton through high resolution sampling. This new capability will be important for current and future investigations involving oceanic zooplankton.
