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A Cold Winter Dive

On a midwinter dive, visiting diver Giorgio Caramanna had to wear gloves to re-install an instrument called the Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) at WHOI’s Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Observatory (MVCO). The cabled offshore observatory provides scientists with critical data on waves, currents, tides, and ocean temperatures. The frigid water made it difficult to manipulate nuts and bolts, so WHOI engineer Jay Sisson designed new quick-release pins (the shiny, T-shaped pieces) to let divers install the instrument more easily. MVCO is a central part of a new Long-Term Ecological Research site that WHOI was recently selected to lead. (Photo by Sean P. Whelan, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)