The idea of using an autonomous instrument carrier that moves along a taut mooring line to carry a suite of sensors through a ccertain section of the water column has been com-sidered and realised in different ways for almost 30 years. Since then, the motivation for pursuing such a devel-opment remains strong What are the reasons for this persistency? First of all, the profiling platforms promise to save costs, as only one sensor package is needed instead of several discrete packages at differnt depths. At the same time, a better spatial coverage can be achieved by continuously profiling a predefined depth interval. Better consistency of data, as only the drift of the individual sensors of a package has to be taken into account, and the prevention of biofouling by keeping the system out of the photic zone most of the time are additional incentives of the approach. However, the scientific users in the majority still prefer the more traditional approach of deploying discrete sensor packages at selected depth levels. The reason for this lies mainly in the uncertainty about the reliabiity of the profiling systems; additional aspects are the added complexity in handling the equipment and deploying the mooring.
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