October 9, 2021: Water Sample Collection
Image courtesy of DEEP SEARCH 2018 - BOEM, USGS, NOAA. Download larger version (jpg, 5.0 MB).
During the second dive of the DEEP SEARCH 2018: DEEP Sea Exploration to Advance Research on Coral/Canyon/Cold seep Habitats expedition, the team explored the Pea Island seeps, off the coast of North Carolina. Two CTD (conductivity, temperature, and depth) casts were completed in the vicinity of the dive. Each CTD rosette contained 24 10-liter Niskin bottles that were specially designed to collect water and seal when tripped at depth. The rosette was controlled by a computer program that allowed the scientists to see full ocean depth profiles of water column data, including temperature and salinity, and in order to control the release of each bottle to collect water at certain depths.
In this image, the DEEP SEARCH team immediately gets to work taking water fractions after the CTD rosette was hauled back onto the deck. The Joye, Cordes, Demopoulos, and Prouty labs all collected water for later analysis from each CTD cast.
From: Dive Two: Sample Madness.