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Measuring Plankton

The Video Plankton Recorder (VPR), an underwater video microscope system capable of taking images of plankton and particulate matter as small as 50 microns, is shown here on the deck of R/V Oceanus recently in preparation for a research cruise in the Sargasso Sea. During the trip, WHOI’s Cabell Davis, who was co-designer of the instrument, used it to measure the diversity and distribution of plankton as part of a larger study to examine the role of the organisms in cycling nutrients and gases between the ocean and atmosphere. Davis also recently took the VPR to the Gulf of Mexico, where he used it to examine potential biological impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.(Photo by Jayne Doucette, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)