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Free Fall

WHOI physical oceanographer John Toole (right) studies some of the ocean’s smallest features in order to better understand its inner workings. Toole, together with Kurt Polzin and an engineering team that included Fred Thwaites Ed Hobart, Jason Kapit, Steve Faluotico, Miles Ochs, Geoff Allsup and others, developed the third iteration of the High-resolution Profiler (HRP3) to reveal patterns of turbulence and mixing on the molecular scale that often set the stage for much larger phenomena. The HRP3 free-falls through the water, collecting data on current direction and velocity, as well as temperature and sailinity. When it senses that it is close to the seafloor, the instrument releases a set of weights and returns to the surface. (Photo by Ken Kostel, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)