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Winching Ahead

To expand research into icy waters, in 2003 WHOI engineers designed the Arctic Winch, which can reach up to get critical measurements near the icy surface, but stay out of reach of damaging icebergs. The Arctic Winch is attached to the submerged big yellow top-float of a mooring, shown here being retrieved from the water. The Winch periodically unspools a small, yellow-and-white float equipped with instruments that measure salinity and temperature (see video). If the Winch float bumps against the underside of an ice floe, a sensor triggers the Winch to reel it back down and out of harm’s way. This week, WHOI is celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the Buoy Group’s first mooring.(Photo by Rick Krishfield, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)