TURNER DESIGNS

Turner Designs hired us to write the user guide for their gorgeous, sleek ICAM. So what’s an ICAM? It’s an in situ Integrating Cavity Absorption Meter. Factory configured with nine (9) wavelengths from UV (365nm) to Red (676nm), which enables absorption measurements over a wide spectrum.

Built with solid-state optics and electronics, ICAM provides excellent reliability and low power consumption in a fully integrated package. Absorption can be measured from 0.001m-1 to a maximum of 15m-1. Data can be collected at a maximum rate of six measurements per second using the ICAM GUI, and little to no correction is needed even in highly turbid water environments.

“Ok, that’s all great,” you say. “Can’t you just speak English?”

Yeah so… if you want to measure any aspect of a water environment such as the ocean, you face the rather… well, fluid and constantly moving nature of water. You’ve got light dynamics like absorption and scattering. Then there are various pesky things like phytoplankton, dissolved organic matter, and impurities, all of which absorb different parts of the light spectrum.

So how do you filter out and/or account for all these variables if you’re trying to forecast the potential for nuisance blooms, assess the environmental impacts of carbon turnover, or simply understand the dynamics of light in water? The ICAM is your tool of choice.

And, you gotta admit it. The ICAM is a gorgeous piece of machinery.