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QuadPod: Underwater Detective

September 25, 2014

Peter Traykovski and Jay Sisson take a moment to pose with a “QuadPod” on the WHOI dock before deploying it off the south side of Martha’s Vineyard. For the next six weeks, a 7-foot instrumented frame like this one will be under four meters of water to measure the migration of sand bars and underwater dunes, as well as waves and currents in the surf zone. Meanwhile, instruments on this QuadPod will gather data that could explain how unexploded ordinance from World War II training activities might have moved or become buried in the seafloor. From the Atlantic Ocean to the Columbia River, Traykovski’s innovations have proven invaluable for understanding currents and sediment transport processes that contribute to changing shorelines.(Photo by Jayne Doucette, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)