Aquatic Monitoring Institute

The Aquatic Monitoring Institute is a small research and development company founded in 1980 by R. Y. Anderson for improving the design of time-marking sediment traps and for deploying traps in lakes and oceans in under a range of environmental conditions.

AMI trap design was inspired by investigations of seasonal sedimentation processes and the prevalence of diatom blooms which form annual couplets (varves) in lacustrine and marine environments. AMI traps employ a funnel-shaped trap to amplify the rate of sediment accumulation, deflect sediment into a clear plastic sample tube, and use a programmable device (intervalometer) to insert granules of inert teflom into the sample tube at regular time intervals. Collecting sediment in a clear tube at an amplified rate, in conjunction with an intervalometer, can determine the precise timing of discrete sedimentation events.

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Left: Diagram of AMI sediment trap and intervalometer. Right: Sample tube from Bear Lake, Utah/Idaho, 1999, showing spring algal bloom between 50-60 cm and rapid rate summer accumulation of pure calcium carbonate. 30-day intervals.

AMI traps have been deployed in the Arctic and Antarctic and at a number of lacustrine and ocean sites between polar extremes. The design phase for AMI traps is nearing completion and traps and intervalometers are available only by special arrangemenmt. For information contact:

Aquatic Monitoring Institute, Inc., 5014 Guadalupe Trail NW, Albuquerque, NM 87107. (505) 343-8526. Attention R. Y. Anderson, ryand@unm.edu.