A new instrument for upper ocean survey, namely the UCTD （Underway Conductivity-Temperature- Depth）, which combines some of the advantages of other underway instruments, is introduced in this paper. The Introduction section presents a description of the construction and function of the UCTD, and the experiments conducted in the South China Sea on board the R/V Dong Fang Hong 2 in July 2007 and August 2008. The UCTD system, with pressure and temperature sensors in the probe, is con- veniently portable, cost-effective and environment-friendly. It is hopefully suitable for future cruises. An intercomparison based on regressing with the experiment temperature data from both SeaBird plus911 CTD and the UCTD showed that the standard deviation is 0.88~C and the correlation coefficient is 0.96, achieving the goals set for the current oceanography uses. In the hydrodynamic experiments, the descending velocities and depths were calculated for different ship speeds. A pulling test was designed with a tensiorneter to measure the magnitude of the pull. The maximal tension of the line was found to be 66.2 kg, which is far lower than the bearing limit of the Hollow Spectra line. Finally, some improvement suggestions are put forward for future experiments and production.
SONG XiangzhouLI HuiLIN XiaopeiCHEN XueenGUO XinshunTIAN Jiwei
