Ruth MottramAnyone have any clue where I can get a measuring tape for sea ice in Europe? The only supplier I have found is the very lovely and friendly Kovacs, but they are US based and the cost and time for delivery are crazy.
I mean one like this:
Dr. Doro (she/her)
Simon Brooke@Ruth_Mottram How different is that from a conventional surveyor's tape?
@simon_brooke he tape bit isn't the problem, it's the big brass thing on the end that jams against the sea ice to get an accurate thickness measurement - it needs to be very well attached but they inevitably corrode and fall off over time. And you're left with a useless tape...
@Ruth_Mottram Ah!
That looks as though it would be fairly easy to fabricate. Do you have good lab techs? Or engineering students?
Martin@Ruth_Mottram Am I right to assume that this is just a standard measuring tape with a weight at the end like this one?
@micron it's not quite a standard weight unfortunately - it's a foldable metal bar.
@Ruth_Mottram Ah I see. Because if any kind of attachable weight would do there is a wide range of leads available for fishery.
https://www.ebay.de/sch/i.html?_nkw=bleigewicht&_sacat=0&_trksid=p2332490.m570.l1313
Edit: Now I understand the bar folds open under the ice sheet so these leads wont do.
David Penfold 
@Ruth_Mottram Could this help you McGyver something?
geeeero@Ruth_Mottram Have you talked to someone at Alfred-Wegener-Institut @awi ?
Kristian Nielsen
Stephen Mather
Dr. 🏔️❄️🗺️📊🎨⛷️🧗🏻♂️🛶- head to a metal workshop and get some machined up. AAD made them in house, I'm pretty sure NPI had some made, although also bought from kovacs
- reach out to NPI or AWI or SLF and ask to borrow some?
if you buy tapes get metal core ones. they last longer.
also #hireme - I've done this stuff ... a lot.
ps: can also use use a thin cord as a "safety rope" on the brass toggle if you don't have many. Bit more cable management up top, can avoid broken tapes and sending the toggle to the sea floor. No impact on measurement.
@adamsteer we have made them before, but I like to have a spare - they are irritatingly prone to breaking after only a few seasons! The Safety chord is a good idea though, I hadn't thought of that for some reason...
@Ruth_Mottram every program using tapes and brass toggles for sea ice measurement has the same issue. A lot of shortened tapes and reattached toggles around!
...using a good technique to retrieve them helps a lot ;).