Water is one of our planet’s most vital resources, yet beneath the surface lies a constantly changing environment that’s often difficult to fully understand. From temperature shifts to nutrient fluctuations and oxygen levels, these invisible changes can have lasting impacts on aquatic ecosystems, water quality, and biodiversity.
Over the past century, various instruments have been invented in the quest to understand these changes, adding a new dimension to the data by enabling vertical profiling in the water column. From crude manual tools - such as water sampler bottles with reversing thermometers - we’ve progressed to modern multiparameter sondes with optical sensors for parameters like turbidity, chlorophyll, and blue-green algae.
Water quality profiling is crucial for treatment decisions in drinking water reservoirs, as it directly affects the efficiency and effectiveness of water treatment processes. Whether deployed in lakes, reservoirs, estuaries, or coastal water