The SBE 16

The SBE 16plus V2 is a multiparameter probe that can measure temperature (°C) and salinity by conductivity as standard. The SBE 16 can optionally be equipped with additional sensors.
For the SO CORAIL, the additional sensors are:

• A chlorophyll sensor FLNTU
• A turbidity sensor FLNTU
• A dissolved oxygen meter SBE 43 Oxy
• A pH-meter SBE 18 pH.

Integrated sensors

Temperature and salinity

The salinity sensor and the thermometer are from Sea-Bird and are installed as standard on the probe. The salinity is measured through conductivity.

Salinity and thermometer drifts are very low (except major incidents) and are normally corrected when the probe is sent for calibration (every second year). However, the conductivity sensor can get progressively dirty, which lead to lower conductivity readings and a tendency to a non linear variation with time depending on the water conditions. Thus the cleaning of the sensor between 2 immersions.

Salinity units
Salinity can be expressed in g/kg, g/l, in %0 or in Practical Salinity Unit (PSU) the latest written without unit. This PSU defines the salinity in terms of conductivity ratio:

Since the introduction of the practical salinity scale, the salinity is not defined as a mass ratio and is now expressed without unit (like the pH for instance).

Studied sites