THE BNL SEA SNAKE

 

The BNL Sea Snake is designed to be towed from the ship and measure sea temperature in the top few cm of the surface. The brass body is an excellent conductor of heat from the water. The electronic circuit in the probe is a 4-20 mA converter with a platinum resistance element, all potted for complete water immunity. The sensor is calibrated to 0.01 C.

The Sea Snake is potted into a long length of 3/4" tygon tubing and there is no profile change at the end and the brass slug. The buoyancy is such that in still water the probe sags slightly under water but when there is any motion at all it pulls smoothly across the surface.   The photo to the left shows the Sea Snake sliding through the water while the ship is making about 8 kts. The drag is so low with this configuration that the probe can be lowered from the bow into clear un-disturbed water even while the ship is moving at medium speed.   The upper limit for ship speed is about 5-10 kts depending on sea conditions.

Contact: R. Michael Reynolds Brookhaven National Laboratory reynolds@bnl.gov