Water Sample

Water samples are collected from different layers of the water column by small bottles attached to a line that is lowered into the ocean. Each bottle is brought back up to the suffice where it can be analyzed to indicate its temperature and salinity level. These bottles are based on a design originally proposed by Arctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen over 100 years ago and first used in 1985 to sample water from different depths down almost 4 kilometres. Data from these tests can tell us how the different layers of water are mixing.