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Eglinton and colleagues have deployed moorings equipped with sediment traps positioned to intercept particles raining from overlying surface water; particles being laterally transported eastward off the continental shelf, down the continental slope, and along the seafloor; as well as particles carried southward by the Deep Western Boundary Current. The moorings also have optical sensors that can reveal ?clouds? of particles ?blowing? laterally from the continental shelf?persistently in some cases and ephemerally in others. Eglinton's moorings are interspersed between other moorings in Line W, which are equipped with instruments to monitor the Deep Western Boundary Current. By analyzing the chemistry of material collected by the traps, Eglinton can determine the composition, age, and sources of carbon being exported to the ocean interior. (Illustration by E. Paul Oberlander, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)[back]
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