Characterizing the response time of unpumped oxygen optodes for profiling applications

Abstract The response times of the Aanderaa 4330, Aanderaa 4330 WTW, RBR coda T.ODO|slow, and PyroScience PICO‐O2‐SUB were evaluated in the laboratory over a range of profiling speeds at two temperatures. The PyroScience PICO‐O2‐SUB had the fastest response time (1–4 s), followed by the RBR coda T.ODO|slow (~ 15–35 s), Aanderaa 4330 (~ 30–60 s), and Aanderaa 4330W (~ 50–100 s). This study provides recommendations on improving the quality of oxygen data from optodes in profiling applications by additionally assessing the impact of response time testing setups, thermal inertia effects, and foil types on sensor response times. This study provides a new response time function based on physical principles to predict response time for these four optode types.