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How the ITP Works

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The ITP underwater vehicle profiles up and down its wire rope tether on a pre-programmed schedule sampling the water's temperature, salinity and optionally other properties. After each one-way profile, the data are transferred between the underwater vehicle and the surface module through the wire rope tether using an inductive modem, and from the surface module to shore via the Iridium telemetry satellite system. The array schematic shows synthesized drift tracks for approximately 20 ITP systems for a 2 year period. Drifts are roughly based on climatological ice motion estimates. (Animation by Tim Silva, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)