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Old School

Former WHOI oceanographer Joe Chase deploys a string of Nansen bottles from the Institution’s first research vessel, R/V Atlantis. The sampling device was developed in 1910 by the explorer and oceanographer Fridtjof Nansen to collect water samples at specific depths. Once the bottles reached a desired depth, scientists dropped a brass “messenger” weight down the cable, tripping a spring-loaded valve on one end that trapped a water sample inside. Nansen bottles were eventually replaced by Niskin bottles, which are open at both ends and make up the bulk of a CTD rosette. (Photo by Jan Hahn, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)