How is oceanographic work done?
Until the 1970s the normal oceanographic expedition involved very simple measurements: reversing thermometers (beautifully intricate, hand-made) and Nansen bottles lowered on steel cables, and triggered by dropping a weight (the ‘messenger’) down the wire; plankton tows in simple mesh nets; small coring devices and bottom dredges. There were virtually no electronics involved. Today, we still need to bring back samples of water from the deep ocean for analysis, but many of our measurements are now electronic, and there are many more things we can measure, such as temperature and salinity. New probes are being designed to allow electronic measurement of many chemical and biological variables. The Ocean Observatories Initiative with its Regional Scale Nodes will expand our ability to include seeing what is happening on the ocean floor from the comfort of our classrooms and offices.
