HOME - CTMO - Centro di Taratura e Metrologia Oceanografica
(Marine Metrology and Calibration Unit)
(Marine Metrology and Calibration Unit)
Who we are...The Marine Metrology and Calibration Unit (CTMO) is the oceanographic calibration laboratory of the Department of Oceanography of the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS). The CTMO is supervised and run by the Department's Calibrations & Testing Operations Group (CTMO Group), which also oversees its ongoing development from the scientific and technical viewpoint.What we do...The CTMO provides the Department of Oceanography of the OGS with the scientific and technical infrastructure necessary for making and guaranteeing high-quality observations of the marine environment in a way that continuously meets recognized international standards of excellence. A critical element of this support is the ability to calibrate and maintain the Department's sea-going instrumentation.Calibrations and/or control of oceanographical instrumentation - typically, Conductivity-Temperature-Depth/Pressure (CTD) probes and related sensors - for external clients are also undertaken upon request on a cost-plus-fee, non-interference basis. The testing, calibration and control activities undertaken by the CTMO furnishes essential information useful for comprehensive measurement and data quality assessments. 
clic to enlarge Our present capabilities...Thermally-regulated and humidity-controlled, the Marine Metrology and Calibration Unit is currently equipped with primary physical standards, secondary transfer standards and support equipment for performing high-accuracy calibrations of devices or sensors measuring temperature, conductivity and pressure, the fundamental seawater parameters, across the full oceanographic range. It is also endowed with a number of instruments for making standard electrical measurements of various kinds.Why...Field observations by means of relevant instrumentation constitute the life-blood of any marine environmental investigation. This is true whether the investigation is purely research-oriented or regulatory, or as is often the case, some combination of the two.But, given the harsh operational milieu and the increasing complexity of the underpinning technology, assuring high quality marine observations is progressively becoming a scientific enterprise in itself, requiring dedicated infrastructure and expertise. The Marine Metrology and Calibration Unit (CTMO) was formally constituted in April 2002 to specifically study marine measurement processes and instrumentation. The initiative embodies a concrete effort by the Department of Oceanography to gear itself to meet the stringent data-quality requirements of current and future marine research and, at the same time, provide the national marine research community and other pertinent private-sector operators with the technical support necessary to optimize their data-gathering capabilities. Part of the Group's mission is to develop, oversee and run the Department's recently-established marine calibration facility. ____________________________________________________________ last upgrade: July 8 2015 Webmaster: R.Iungwirth |
