In Search of Underwater Clouds

WHOI scientist John “Chip” Breier prepares the SUPR (Suspended Particulate Rosette) sampler and other instruments for deployment in the North Atlantic in October 2010. He designed the SUPR sampler, the white device, to collect tiny particles in the water around hydrothermal vents. On this cruise SUPR gathered samples from clouds of particulate matter that form at various depths in the ocean. Breier is working with WHOI colleagues Tim Eglinton and Breck Owens to assess the distribution of the clouds and the amount of carbon they contain, to better understand the transfer of carbon from the continental shelf to the waters of the deep ocean.(Photo by Steve Beaupre, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)