“Sigma-1” Measuring Complex for the Investigation of Small-Scale Characteristics of Hydrophysical Fields in the Upper Layer of the Sea

We describe a new measuring complex aimed at the investigation of small-scale processes in the upper active layer of the sea. The necessity of creation of a complex of this sort is justified and a circle of problems that can be solved with the help of this complex is described. The scales of resolution of horizontal and vertical inhomogeneities in measuring in the mode of vertical probing are theoretically estimated. The basic technical characteristics of the complex are presented. We also present the results of laboratory and field tests, which confirm the agreement between the calculated and actual technical possibilities of the complex. The structural features of various versions of the “Sigma-1” measuring complex (the “Sigma-1P” point-to-point-operation version and the “Sigma-1Z” probing version) are described. __________ Translated from Morskoi Gidrofizicheskii Zhurnal, No. 5, pp. 60–71, September–October, 2005.