During the RV Heincke cruise HE650 in the German Bight, the autonomous surface vehicle HALOBATES was deployed to obtain high-resolution measurements of key climate variables, including sea surface temperature (SST) and salinity (SSS). The platform sampled the upper ocean across five depths, extending from the near-surface layer (NSL; approximately 30–100 cm depth) to the sea-surface microlayer (SML), which occupies the uppermost millimetres of the ocean. Temperature and conductivity, from which salinity was derived, were measured using conductivity–temperature–depth (CTD) sensors integrated into HALOBATES' flow-through system. Additional temperature sensors mounted beneath the catamaran provided in situ observations at six NSL depths. Discrete water samples were used to calibrate the salinity measurements and account for potential sensor offsets. Meteorological conditions were simultaneously monitored using two data loggers equipped with meteorological stations installed on the catamaran. HALOBATES operated continuously during the deployment on 6th November 2024.
During the RV Heincke cruise HE626/2 in the German Bight, the autonomous surface vehicle HALOBATES was deployed to obtain high-resolution measurements of key climate variables, including sea surface temperature (SST) and salinity (SSS). The platform sampled the upper ocean across seven depths, with approximately 10 cm vertical spacing, extending from the near-surface layer (NSL; approximately 30–100 cm depth) to the sea-surface microlayer (SML), which occupies the uppermost millimetres of the ocean. Temperature and conductivity, from which salinity was derived, were measured using conductivity–temperature–depth (CTD) sensors integrated into HALOBATES' flow-through system. Additional temperature sensors mounted beneath the catamaran provided in situ observations at six NSL depths. Discrete water samples were used to calibrate the salinity measurements and account for potential sensor offsets. Meteorological conditions were simultaneously monitored using two data loggers equipped with meteorological stations installed on the catamaran. HALOBATES operated continuously during the deployment period from 27 October to 2 November 2023.