Video demonstrating how to set-up, deploy and operate a Ski-Monkey III towed benthic camera system. [Training Video]

Abstract

The Ski-Monkey III benthic camera system is a passive, towed camera mounted on a squat, stainless steel frame, resting on two 10 cm wide skis. It consists of an underwater module, containing pressure housings that are fitted with a Canon EOS 760D camera, capturing both video and still images, two LED lights and flashes to illuminate the seabed, and three scaling lasers to quantitatively scale the seafloor images. The pressure housings are set at a 45 degree angle, relative to the horizontal plain and are approximately 90 cm above the substratum. Also attached to the camera frame is a MicroCAT CTD, which records salinity, temperature, and depth during the camera transect. An additional sensor is attached to the frame for collecting dissolved oxygen data. This training video demonstrates how to set up, deploy and operate the Ski-Monkey camera system as well as how to follow post deployment protocols.