Boom Out

During a January expedition in the Caribbean Sea, WHOI shipboard technician Catie Graver used hand signals to guide the winch operator as he lowered a CTD rosette (for measuring conductivity, temperature, and depth) over the side of the research vessel Atlantis. Deploying a CTD is “probably the most routine operation that any oceanographic ship performs,” Graver said. During this cruise they did about a dozen deployments. The most exciting part, she said, was gathering fluid samples from hydrothermal vent sites that had never been studied before.(Photo by Julia DeMarines)