RV Islândia is a small fishing vessel for pelagic and bottom trawls, built in 1993 in Iceland, and later donated to the Cape Verdean Government. It is now under INDP's responsibility.

Since the beginning of CVOO, the ship has been converted from a fishing vessel to a multidisciplinary research vessel.

Click here for a technical drawing of the ship.

What has been done:

• Total refit of machinery, propulsion, hydraulic system, interior, navigation etc.
• All trawling gear was removed from the working deck install new support for CTD-deployment (small J-frame).
• Installation of new winches.
• Installation of 10' lab container on the working deck.

What can be carried out:

• CTD profiling water sampling.
• Small-net plankton sampling. 
• Some laboratory work camera towing (with own winch). 
• Shallow-water multibeam with side-array.
• Small rib (~4m)
• Deployment and recovery of autonomous platforms (e.g. glider, floats...)
• HydroBios MultiNet (SFB 754)

CTD sensors on RV Islandia:

• Sea-Bird SBE 32 (12 niskins, 5L)
• Sea-Bird SBE 19plus (CTD)
• Sea-Bird SBE 33 (deck unit)
• Sea_Bird SBE 5T (pump)
• Sea-Bird SBE 43 (oxygen)
• Biospherical QSP-2350 (PAR)
• Biospherical QSP-2200 (PAR deck)
• WETLabs ECO FLNTURT (fluorescence/turbidity)

If you are planning on doing CTD-casts at CVOO, please consider using the standard sampling depths.