Sea-going equipment

Sediment Traps

The carbon budget of the upper ocean includes an important loss to the deep ocean due to the sinking of organic particles. We use surface-tethered, free-drifting sediment traps to study the transport of surface-​derived organic matter to the deep ocean and the seafloor, a process contributing to the so-called biological pump.

FastOcean APD Profiling System

Marine primary production by photosynthetic plankton supports essentially all life in the oceans and profoundly affects global biogeochemical cycles and climate. For the in situ assessment of phytoplankton primary productivity, we use a FastOcean APD Profiling System.

Marine Snow Catcher

An important component of the biological carbon pump is aggregate formation and sinking because aggregates transfer biologically bound carbon and nutrients from the sunlit surface waters, the euphotic zone, to the interior of the oceans. To study individual aggregates, we use Marine Snow Catcher, which allow to collect particles with minimum of trauma throughout the water column.

CytoSub underwater flow cytometer

For the in situ detection of picoplankton, nanoplankton, microplankton, both phytoplankton & zooplankton and small mesozooplankton, as well as marine aggregates we use the under water flow cytometer CytoSub (photo credit: www.cytobuoy.com).