PME Temperature String

T-Chain (Temperature String)
Monitor Temperature, Dissolved Oxygen, Pressure and PAR in your lake.

The T-Chain is used as a water quality monitoring and lake management device that collects water column temperature, dissolved oxygen, PAR and pressure measurements. T-Chains are currently being used to monitor lake and reservoir thermocline and stratification, detect dissolved oxyen fluctuations, observe internal waves, collect data under ice, discover plumes, observe upwelling and eddies, record lake turnover and more. The T-Chain is also used in marine environments.

The T-Chain is a temperature string designed to collect temperature, dissolved oxygen and pressure measurements as rapidly as once per second along a customer specified node location cable. This temperature string (T-Chain) is unique due to its very high temperature accuracy and rapid response to temperature variations. It often finds application in connection with numerical model validations as well as routine monitoring.

The temperature string (T-Chain) consists of a single polyurethane sheathed cable with a Kevlar core. This cable carries digital-format data from the various sensors. Temperature sensors are permanently molded onto the cable but dissolved oxygen and pressure sensors are attached via underwater connectors. The number and type of sensors, length of cable, and other parameters are defined by the customer subject to the temperature string design rules. Each chain is custom assembled depending upon the customer's specific requirements.

PME presently supplies the temperature string (T-Chain) in three formats shown below. Please contact us for custom systems appropriate for applications not described below.

Available T-Chain Systems Include:

RS232 and RS485. This design allows for either RS232 or RS485 on the T-Chain. It is a packaged design. Let us know if you would like another type of connection.

Design it!
Connect to a Campbell Data Logger

PME U/W logger. The logger's capacity and endurance depend upon the number of nodes on the chain, the sampling interval, and the capacity of the compact flash card. More

Design it!

LakeESP and T-Chain. The T-Chain is used with the LakeESP , which is a complete system for long-term water quality monitoring and management.

Design it!

T-Chain Warranty

Temperature Sensors: Produce detailed thermal data that can be used to determine water stratification, mixing, internal tides, and more. More

Oxygen Sensors: Produce dissolved oxygen data within the water column by measuring lifetime-based luminescence quenching of fluorescence of a thin membrane. More

Pressure Sensor: A strain-gage transducer used to measure water depth. This sensor is an absolute pressure sensor and is available in three pressure ranges. More

PAR Sensor: A Li-Cor LI-192SA Underwater Quantum Sensor that measures Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density. More

T-Chain Data Sheet

T-Chain Guidelines

T-Chain off Scripps Pier: The Coastal Observing Research Development Center at Scripps Institution of Oceanography maintains a PME temperature chain at their research pier as part of an ocean observing program.

T-Chain with Campbell Data Logger at Toolik Lake, Alaska.

T-Chain and LDS (LakeESP) at Deadwood ReservoirPME and CWR helped install a LDS and T-Chain for the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) in Deadwood Reservoir, Idaho.