On March 24th, 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska
spilling nearly 11 million gallons of oil into the ecosystem. This resulted in a tremendous damage to the
marine environment. Significant cleanup efforts are no longer occurring, however there is still interest in
monitoring the ecosystem of the sound to determine how the ecosystem is recovering from this event. To
determine how well the ecosystem is recovering, data on the plankton distribution, oxygen and carbon
dioxide levels, and chlorophyll levels among other important water characteristics throughout the Prince
William Sound must be taken over an extended period of time.

Currently, this data is being collected by a WETLabs Thetis Profiler operated by Dr. Rob
Campbell. The WETLabs Profiler is a positively buoyant float anchored to the seabed below with a
UHMWPE cable and winch that reels in and out to move the profiler up and down to collect data.
However, the WETLabs Profiler is no longer maintained by the manufacturer, making repairs and sensor
modifications fall on to Dr. Campbell, requiring an upgrade. Additionally, the WETLabs Profiler requires
frequent maintenance trips to charge the battery and to transfer of data that the Profiler has obtained.
Unfortunately, this maintenance can take several hours due to the difficult process of removing the hard
drive and battery, and the long wait time for charging and downloading the collected data from.

Three successive senior design teams and a VIP team have been designing and building a
replacement. The previous teams have designed the frame for the replacement profiler, potential cellular
communications, and a winch to raise and lower the profiler in the water. This team focuses on the
integration of prior teams designs into a functional, testable prototype, which requires the creation of a
central command module, construction of a robust frame, and the mounting of all required components
and subsequent connectivity to ensure Dr. Campbell’s requirements are met.