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Preparing to Go Deep

Saudi Arabian researchers Majdy Hamed Alharbi (left) and Muhammad Ali Al-Ghamdi gathered water samples during an autumn 2011 cruise in the eastern Red Sea. The cruise, lead by WHOI physical oceanographer Amy Bower, required frequent use of a tool shown here, called a CTD. After researchers lowered it over the side of the ship on a wire, instruments attached to it measured the water for conductivity (or salinity), as well as temperature, and depth and the open bottles closed to collect water samples at specific depths. Bower’s research, conducted in collaboration with scientists from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), is part of a multi-year effort to understand how water circulates in the Red Sea.(Photo by Leah Trafford, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)