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| | | Two early 1990s buoy designs during instrument burn-in at the WHOI lab. Toroid, or donut-shaped, buoys (right) were replaced by larger aluminum discus buoys (left).
By 1995, solar panels were no longer in use. Augmenting battery power with solar energy seemed like a promising idea, but protecting the sensitive panels against waves and salt proved difficult. Instead, engineers reduced the system's power requirement by more than 90%. (photo courtesy Robert Weller, WHOI) |