Clap Trap

A set of “clap traps” await deployment on the fantail of the research vessel Roger Revelle in the summer of 2005. Clap traps are moored instruments designed to collect particles and sediments as they sink out of surfaces waters into the deeper ocean. They are so named because while most upper ocean traps are open tubes, the traps designed by WHOI chemist Ken Buesseler and engineer Jim Valdes “clap” shut when their 3- to 5-day mission is over. (Photo by Ken Buesseler, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)