Studies suggest that 99.8% of oceanic plastic sinks below the ocean's surface. Until now, microplastics sampling equipment either only skimmed the water’s surface or required large and expensive research vessels with industrial deployment capabilities for below-surface sampling.
Ascension is a portable and tethered instrument that collects filtered microplastic samples down to 400 m depths from the side of a small vessel or fixed installation. Filtering water directly in situ, Ascension significantly increases your sample collection capabilities and reduces contamination.
Easily collect filtered samples down to 400m even from the side of a small vessel like a dinghy or fishing boat.
Attach to fixed installations like buoys, docks, or wastewater and stormwater outfalls for time series studies.
Measure depth, temperature, salinity, flow rate and total volume filtered in real-time without any coding or confusing terminal commands.
FEATURES
Operate in real-time deployment mode or upload an automated mission for autonomous time-series sampling
Minimize filter handling and potential contamination by filtering directly in situ
Recharge the battery to maximizes deployment time and reduce primary battery waste
Manually lower and raise through the water column by hand with a real-time communication tether or fix to existing infrastructure using standardized mounting points
SPECIFICATIONS
Dry Weight: 10 Kg (22 lbs)
Depth Rating: 400m
Tether Length: 50, 100 or 200 m
Battery: 266 W-Hr. rechargeable LIPO batter
External Sensors: Star-Oddi DST DCT Online
Temperature Range: -1°C to +40°C (30°F to 104°F)
Temperature Resolution: 0.032°C (0.058°F)
Temperature Accuracy: +/- 0.1°C (0.18°F)
Depth Range: 5-500m
Depth Resolution: 0.03% of depth range
Depth Accuracy: +/- 0.6% of depth range
Salinity Range: 3-68 mS/cm
Salinity Resolution: 0.02 PSU
Salinity Accuracy: +/- 1 PSU
Acceptable Filter Pore Size: >10 µm
Pump Type: High flow impeller
Flow Meter Range: 0.2 – 4.5 litres per minute
Typical Flow Rates: 0.5 – 4.5 litres per minute
Flow Meter Accuracy: +/- 1.5%
Number of Filter Channels: 7
System Requirements: Windows 10/11 laptop with Bluetooth capability
APPLICATIONS
Depth sampling of microplastics and microfibres
Plankton
Total / dissolved organic carbon (TOC)
Environmental DNA (eDNA)
Suspended sediment
POWER SOURCE
No need to open pressure housings and remove O-ring seals. Simply recharge between deployments with a simple cable connector and wall charger
Rechargeable 266 W-hr battery pack provides an alternative to primary batteries used in similar platforms
Contact Us
Tell us about your project and learn how we can help you to advance your microplastics research.
