Vadim Paka and His Inventions

Abstract

The article provides an overview of the main innovations that were developed and implemented in the practice of in situ hydrophysical measurements in the ocean by Vadim Timofeevich Paka. Among them are the thermochain, the thermotrawl, the loosely tethered microstructure probe “Baklan”, the undulating towed fine-structure system “Rybka” with undulation control by a high-speed winch, and the current velocity meter based on the inclination angles of a body with positive buoyancy suspended in the oncoming flow (Tilt Current Meter — TCM). Special attention is paid to the “Baklan” probe and the “Rybka” system, since they had the greatest influence on the development of modern methods of in situ measurements in the ocean and had the largest number of followers. The general idea of the “Baklan” probe was a quasi-free immersion of the carrier of turbulence sensors on a flexible, unloaded, free-falling cable with near-neutral buoyancy. This made it possible to quickly perform multiple measurements of turbulence in the upper layer of the ocean at a low level of noise, which was impossible when using both ordinary cable probes and autonomous free-falling probes. The article presents the history of the development of V.T. Paka’s ideas, which formed the basis of “Baklan” and “Rybka”, and their implementation in hardware. A comparison of “Baklan” and “Rybka” with existing measurement systems such as MSS Profiler and SeaSoar is given.