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One Long Core

Researchers and crew aboard the WHOI research vessel Knorr tested a new long corer system for the first time in 2007. The WHOI long corer, developed by Jim Broda and William Curry at WHOI, acts like a giant probe, plunging up to 150 feet into the seafloor—twice as long as other systems—and collecting mud in its hollow open pipe. This longer reach provides access to deeper, older sediments, and thus a look further back into Earth history. The sediments contain fossils that reveal past sea-level changes, ocean circulation, and Earth’s climate, spanning hundreds of thousands and even millions of years.(Photo by Alexander Dorsk, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)