Biofouling on SPC2 Strobe View Port

With the increased swell and wind early this week, we saw an increase in the amount of growth on cameras. The strobe view port of the SPC2 is facing upward and exposed to direct sunlight during the day. As a result the fouling was too much for the water cleaning system and some growth manged to take hold on the port. This caused some of the imaged objects to have a light background instead of the typical dark background. After a quick snorkel and manual cleaning today the port is free of growth and the image quality is back to normal. The water jet on this port was also adjusted to maximize fluid velocity over the port surface. We’ll wait and see if this help mitigate growth in the future.