Multidisciplinary cooperation is required to explain marine phenomena, as well as monitor the state of the sea. The research vessel Aranda has laboratories and equipment for physical, chemical, and biological research. In addition to the six indoor laboratories, several additional container laboratories can be also placed on the research deck.

The research facilities and sampling possibilities are exceptionally large in relation to the size of the vessel. As many as 27 researchers can be accommodated onboard. The modern research facilities, as well as an onboard data processing system enable the analysis of samples and the processing of results while the research expedition is still underway. To minimise both vibration and noise, the research facilities have a floating floor.

A Rosette water sampler

A Rosette water sampler collects water samples from different depths. The sensors of a CTD-probe are visible under the rosette.

Ilkka Lastumäki

Marine analysts examine sample photographs taken from the sea with a digital hologram camera. In the photo is a fishhook water flea, Cercopagis pengoi.

Senja Jaloluoma

The laboratories of the RV Aranda have a floating floor, which makes working at sea more stable

Senja Jaloluoma

The sampling equipment of the RV Aranda

The sampling equipment of the research vessel Aranda is assembled in the picture. Click on an image for more information about these devices.

The CTD probe, or temperature-salinity probe, is one of the most important sampling devices in marine research. This device measures the electrical conductivity, temperature, and pressure of seawater. These findings have improved the understanding of water masses and increased the knowledge about the vertical structure of the seas.

Connected to the CTD probe is a rosette sampler, i.e. a water sampling collection system. This sampler takes water samples from different depths of the sea. Other types of samples are also collected with, among other things, grabs for benthic fauna, fine-meshed nets for plankton, as well as sonar soundings and sediment cores. The ship has its own weather station.

1. Satellite buoy
2. Differential Global Positioning System, i.e. DGPS-positioning, ground signal (sky anchor)
3. DGPS-positioning, satellite signal (sky anchor)
4. Weather station
5. Wave buoy
6. Side-scan sonar
7. Utow
8. Plankton net
9. Metal and Oil sampler
10. -
11. Samples taken by scuba diving
12. Digital sonar equipment
13. MBES or multibeam sonar
14. Water temperature and salinity sampler (CTD probe) and Rosette sampler
15. Sediment corer
16. Acoustic doppler current profiler (ADCP)
17. Serial water sampler
18. Benthic faunal grab (van Veen)
19. Sedimentation trap and Current profiler