Exploring Oceanography: Tools and Techniques

Echo sounding: is a type of sonar used to determine the depth of water by transmitting sound waves into water.

Trieste: is a city and a seaport in northeastern Italy. What is Trieste famous for? In the 19th century the monarchy was one of the Great Powers of Europe and Trieste was its most important seaport.

Deep sea winch: Fishing rod, mechanism

drift bottle : a bottle containing a record of the time and place at which it was set adrift in the ocean for supplying when recovered data to aid in determining the circulation of surface waters in the ocean

drogue: a device, typically conical or funnel-shaped with open ends, towed behind a boat, aircraft, or other moving object to reduce speed or improve stability.

Swallow Float: A tubular buoy used to measure current velocities; it can be adjusted to be neutrally buoyant and to drift at a selected density level while being tracked by shipboard listening devices. Also known as neutrally buoyant float; swallow buoy.

Nansen bottle: is a device for obtaining samples of seawater at a specific depth.

bathythermograph: The bathythermograph, or BT, also known as the Mechanical Bathythermograph, or MBT; is a small torpedo-shaped device that holds a temperature sensor and a transducer to detect changes in water temperature versus depth down to a depth of approximately 285 meters (935 feet).

Grab Sampler: is an instrument to sample sediment in water environments. Usually it is a clamshell bucket made out of stainless steel. Up to 20 cm deep samples of roughly 0.1 m2 can be extracted with this instrument. It can be light-weight (roughly 5 kg) and low-tech.

The piston corer: is a long, heavy tube plunged into the seafloor to extract samples of mud sediment. A piston inside the tube allows scientists to capture the longest possible samples, up to 90 feet in length.

An underwater camera: is basically a camera that can be used to capture images and videos under water. It can be used for shoots as one is swimming, snorkeling, or with a remotely operated underwater vehicle.

Plankton Net: A Plankton net is equipment used for collecting samples of plankton in standing bodies of water. It consists of a towing line and bridles, nylon mesh net, and a cod end. Plankton nets are considered one of the oldest, simplest and inexpensive methods of sampling plankton

Trawl Net: Trawling is a method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats

Tagging Fish: Tag and release is a form of catch and release fishing in which the angler attaches a tag to the fish, records data such as date, time, place, and type of fish on a standardized postcard, and submits this card to a fisheries agency or conservation organization

The Secchi disk: as created in 1865 by Angelo Secchi, is a plain white, circular disk 30 cm in diameter used to measure water transparency or turbidity in bodies of water. The disc is mounted on a pole or line, and lowered slowly down in the water.

Purse seine net: Seine fishing is a method of fishing that employs a fishing net called a seine, that hangs vertically in the water with its bottom edge held down by weights and its top edge buoyed by floats.

hydrometer or aerometer: is an instrument used for measuring the relative density of liquids based on the concept of buoyancy. They are typically calibrated and graduated with one or more scales such as specific gravity.

The Alcyone: is a ship operated by the Cousteau Society. It was created as an expedition ship and to test the operation of a new kind of marine propulsion system, the turbosail. The Alcyone's two turbosails are used to augment its Diesel engines